Top pick: #6 (MANKAI BLOSSOM) - Home-bred showed good speed in all three starts last year at age two and has many changes today that point us to her. Racing off a 9 month break, she has a new trainer, drops way down in price, is working steadily for this, and she'll run on a synthetic surface for the first time. Pino is having a great meet here (37-12-6-5), wins at a 26% rate win new arrivals, 32% off of long layoffs, and at a 35% clip when rider leading jockey Luis Contreras. The horse to beat.
2nd pick: #7 (Stage Customer) - Daughter of "Artie Schiller" raced wide and really wasn't involved at any point when debuting here for $50K May 22. Good small barn (John Charalambous) drops her way down and will add both lasix and blinkers. Win threat.
3rd pick: #1a (Midway dream) - Filly is part of a Dave Cotey trained entry and she's run evenly in her first pair. Wide in her debut, she broke slowly last out. Stretches-out a furlong, draws a fine post, and can be a factor with some improvement.