By Ryan Martin – NYRA Press Office
OZONE PARK, N.Y.— Saturday’s card at Belmont at the Big A will be bolstered by a Pick 6 carryover of $33,630 after the multi-race wager went unsolved on Friday’s nine-race card.
The $1 Pick 6 returned $2,242 to bettors who selected 5-of-6 winners correctly.
The sequence kicked off in Race 4 – a 1 1/16-mile allowance optional claimer for 3-years-old and upward – when the Kendrick Carmouche-piloted Ocala Dream [No. 9, $27.40] rallied to a 1 3/4-length score for trainer Mike Maker.
Trainer Horacio De Paz saddled Barry Schwartz’s New York homebred Awesome Czech [No. 3, $9.60] to victory in a state-bred maiden event for juvenile fillies going 1 1/16 miles on the turf [Race 5]. The Mendelssohn filly was piloted by Manny Franco.
Franco returned to the winner’s circle in Race 6 – a 6 1/2-furlong main track maiden special weight for fillies and mares 3-years-old and upward – aboard Klaravich Stables’ Thought Experiment [No. 8, $14.80] for trainer Chad Brown.
Multiple Grade 1-placed New York-bred Ny Traffic [No. 6, $19.20] returned triumphant from a 13-month hiatus with Irad Ortiz, Jr. in the irons for trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. in Race 7 – a 6 1/2-furlong allowance optional claimer for 3-year-olds and up over the main track.
Race 8 – the featured $135,000 Winter Memories for sophomore fillies going one mile over the inner turf – saw Sacred Wish [No. 3, $11.80] win her turf debut two starts after a close second in the Grade 1 CCA Oaks in July at Saratoga Race Course. George Weaver trains the Not This Time filly, who was ridden to victory by Hall of Famer John Velazquez.
With only three horses covered in Race 9 – a six-furlong maiden special weight for New York-bred juvenile fillies – the Phil Serpe-trained and Hilly Fields Stable homebred Being Betty [No. 1, $6.60*] won at second asking with Jose Lezcano aboard.
Saturday’s Pick 6 will kick off in Race 5 at 3:10 p.m. Eastern and includes the Grade 3, $350,000 Jockey Club Oaks Invitational in Race 9. First post for the 10-race card is 1:05 p.m.
