Well, it's official. The fillie Nest is an absolute MONSTER! Nest recovered from a small stumble out of the gate to romp in the Grade 1 Alabama yesterday at Saratoga. My pick, Kentucky Oaks winner Sacred Oath did bounce back from her last start as I predicted and ran well enough to have won any other race. However Nest is just that good as the Todd Pletcher trained three year old clearly let the world know that she is the best fillie in the country.
The featured stakes race today is the Bolton Landing Stakes with two year old fillies going 5 1/2 furlongs for $150,000. This is an early look at potential youngsters for next year's Alabama.
The morning line favorite is Love Reigns at 2-1 for Wesley Ward with Irad Ortiz aboard. Those connections alone make this horse a major threat, but she broke her maiden at first asking in April at Keenland then shipped over the pond to Ascot to finish fourth in the Grade 2 Queen Mary Stakes in June. She also has the best speed figure of the group.
Grand Oak for Graham Motion has the speed figures to run with the top choice but was a dismal 18th at the Queen Mary. She sports a first and second in four starts for her career. Christophe Clement and Joel Rsario should never be discounted on the turf and enter Kerry at 6-1 but she will need to make a huge step forward.
Keith's Picks-2-5-4-8
Here are my picks for the rest of the card:
Race #1-3-7-8-6
Race #2-6-7-2-1
Race #3-3-4-1-6
Race #4-7-3-2-4
Race #5-3-6-10-8
Race #6-5-2-7-9
Race #7-3-2-8
Race #8-2-5-7-8
Race #10-8-5-9-3
Good luck!
