Photo Credit: Joe Labozzetta
NYRA Press Release
ELMONT, N.Y. – The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) will host a Cross Country Pick 5 on Saturday with Keeneland in Lexington, Kentucky. It will mark the year’s final Cross Country wager.
The sequence will include two graded stakes: the Grade 3, $200,000 Bold Ruler for 3-year-olds and upward at Belmont and the Grade 2, $200,000 Hagyard Fayette for 3-year-olds and up at Keeneland.
The multi-race wager, hosted by NYRA and featuring a 50-cent minimum, will start with Race 7 at Belmont with a 4:07 p.m. Eastern post time. The allowance event for fillies and mares will see a 12-horse field competing at 1 1/16 miles on the Widener turf course.
The second leg is the Bold Ruler, where Maximum Security, for owners Gary and Mary West and trainer Jason Servis, will make his first start since winning the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park. Maximum Security, who crossed the wire first in the Kentucky Derby but was demoted to 17th for interference approaching the five-sixteenths marker, will now face a talented field of eight, including graded stakes winners Prince Lucky, Tale of Silence, and Knicks Go in Race 8 at 4:40 p.m.
Action will then shift to Keeneland for Race 8 at 4:57 p.m., with a nine-horse allowance field going seven furlongs. Alternating back to Belmont for the third leg, 11 juveniles will compete in the one-mile Awad on the turf at 5:13 p.m.
In the Awad, Hall of Fame Trainer Bill Mott will send out two formidable contenders, including maiden debut winner Tiesto and No Lime for owners LRE Racing LLC. The Graham Motion-trained Irish Mias will look to win her second career stakes after capturing the Laurel Futurity on September 21 at Laurel Park.
The final leg, the Hagyard Fayette from Keeneland, will feature a talented field of 10, highlighted by multiple graded stakes placed Tom’s d’Etat for conditioner Al Stall, Jr. and G M B Racing looking to rebound off a fourth-place finish in the Grade 1 Woodward at Saratoga. Other contenders include the Todd Pletcher-trained Bal Harbour and the Dale Romans-conditioned Mr Freeze.
The minimum bet for the multi-track, multi-race wager is 50 cents. Wagering on the Cross Country Pick 5 is also available on track, on ADW platforms, and at simulcast facilities across the country. There will be a mandatory payout of the entire pool.
Belmont Park/Keeneland Cross Country Pick 5 – October 26:
Leg 1 – Belmont, Race 7: (4:07 p.m.)
Leg 2 – Belmont, Race 8: Grade 3 Bold Ruler: (4:40 p.m.)
Leg 3 – Keeneland, Race 8: (4:57 p.m.)
Leg 4 – Belmont, Race 9: Awad (5:13 p.m.)
Leg 5 – Keeneland, Grade 2 Haygard Fayette, Race 9: (5:30 p.m.)