belmont /woodbine/ arlington sunday

[NTamm1215]

The Ashley T. Cole at Belmont today is an interesting race as you have numerous old hard-knocking NY breds slugging it out on the turf. RETRIBUTION gets another rider change and will probably go out and take a 15 length lead again. I don't see how Jorge Chavez will be able to rein the horse in enough to win the race.

I've been intrigued by three NY-bred turf horses this spring/summer and two of them show up here. SPURRED and AL BASHA have looked sharp clearing their allowance conditions and now both make the jump to stakes company. While their figures are a bit lower than horses like DAVE, RED ZIPPER, and FOREVERNESS, this race is crying out for "fresh faces." Their respective off the pace styles will work very well with the hot early splits in here guaranteed by Retribution. At 6-1 and 8-1, these two are very interesting.

NT