Sat May 14 - some interesting first-timers

[RXB]

Bel Race 2 - #1 and #1A (I'll take 7/1 at the gate). I cashed on a $28.80 firster last Sunday at Belmont-- same sire, same trainer, same distance and same class (except a colt, these are fillies). That one was out of a Rahy dam, so I liked it better than either of these individually, but between the two of them they offer a reasonable win opportunity against beatable competition.

CD Race 6 - #5 (4/1 at the gate is playable). Pedigree is about as good as it gets for North American grass racing and the opposition is decidedly uninspiring.

GG Race 6 - #6 (15/1 at the gate is playable). A bunch of rats in this race and this one's breeding is certainly good enough to beat these first time out. But maybe this one is a rat, too. I'll take a shot if the price is high enough. (The ML is 20/1.)

[RXB]

The CD race is off the turf.

A slight apology for the Bel race; I somehow missed the scratch of the #6, who was one of the two main contenders from the horses who had started. With that horse out, I was willing to take 5/1 at the gate as the minimum odds. And that's exactly what I got.

[RXB]

So, the two halves of the Belmont debut entry finished 1st and 3rd, paying $12.40 to win.

The CD race was washed off of the grass, no play there.

The GG horse went off at 21/1 and ran around the track 5th out of 11. The two favourites-- neither of whom I particularly cared for-- had their own little match race in the stretch as they pulled well clear of the others.

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I should note one thing: I demand a pretty big edge in the odds now before I'll make a play. Perhaps I'll start attaching probability estimates instead of minimum odds and you can decide for yourselves what odds you're willing to take.