By Keith McCalmont – NYRA Press Office
OZONE PARK, N.Y.— Thursday’s card at Belmont at the Big A will be bolstered by a Pick 6 carryover of $43,296 after the multi-race wager went unsolved on Sunday’s nine-race program.
The $1 Pick 6 returned $580.50 to bettors who selected 5-of-6 winners correctly.
Sunday’s sequence kicked off in Race 4 as Cruise to Catalina [No. 2, $8] graduated in a six-furlong main track maiden special weight for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up with Junior Alvarado in the irons for trainer Riley Mott. Alvarado followed in Race 5 by guiding Dancing Dean [No. 8, $22.40] to a maiden score in a one-mile inner turf test for filles and mares 3-years-old and up this time for Hall of Famer Bill Mott.
English Conqueror [No. 6, $24.60] made his seasonal debut a winning one in Race 6, a 1 3/16-mile optional claimer for 3-year-olds and up over the outer turf with Jose Lezcano at the helm for trainer Darwin Banach. Reserve Currency [No. 3, $7.40*] provided the first winning favorite in the sequence, taking a one-turn mile claimer for 3-year-olds and up in Race 7 with Dylan Davis aboard for trainer Ray Handal.
Lezcano engineered his third win on the card and second score in the sequence with a gate-to-wire trip from Beets [No. 8, $12.80] for Bill Mott in Race 8, a one-mile inner turf maiden for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up.
With only one horse covered in the final leg in Race 9, a nine-furlong outer turf allowance for 3-year-olds and up, the Flavien Prat-piloted Battle of Normandy [No. 5, $6.50*] drew off to a comfortable score for Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey to trigger the carryover.
Thursday’s Pick 6 will begin in Race 4 at 2:35 p.m. Eastern. The nine-race card goes to post at 1:05 p.m. with the inaugural running of the Grade 1 Beverly R. Steinman Hurdle Handicap, a 2 3/8-mile steeplechase for older horses in Race 1.
