It's an Extra Large Iced Coffee night for me with a lot of upcoming racing to contemplate: the Derby Trial tomorrow on opening day at Churchill; the Withers and a $97k double-carryover on the final Saturday of the Aqueduct meet; and early entries for the first two days of the Belmont spring meet that begins Wednesday. Plus, just for a little action amid the homework, my guilty pleasure of Friday night pick-4's from Emerald Downs.
Here's the timetable for the Last Saturday in April, which features six graded stakes across the country, the two richest being $300k miles at Golden Gate and Lone Star:
Wednesday's Belmont opener features the G3 $100k Westchester, where the field of 10 older milers includes talented but erratic types such as Tale of Ekati, Bribon and Wishful Tomcat.
The Aqueduct carryover sequence tomorrow includes three races scheduled for, and likely to stay on, the grass -- the forecast is for clear skies and temperatures approaching 80 degrees. If it's not hit tomorrow, there would be a triple carry in the $400k neighborhood for the closing-day card Sunday and a mandatory payout even if no one goes 6-for-6.
I'll be back here tomorrow afternoon if you want to play along. Gotta go now -- time for the opener at Emerald.
