Betting the Beldame on a Budget

Wedding Toast could win her second Grade 1 in Saturday's Beldame at Belmont Park. (Photos by Eclipse Sportswire)
Saturday’s Grade 1 $400,000 Beldame Invitational drew a small field of six horses but the race is still intriguing on multiple levels. The Beldame will mark the first time that  3-year-old Curalina will be facing older horses, as the filly makes her return to Belmont after winning the Grade 1 Acorn Stakes there on Belmont Stakes day. However, she isn’t the only horse in this field who has had success at Belmont, so let’s take a closer look.
Curalina is one of two Grade 1 winners in the field, the other being Godolphin Racing’s Wedding Toast. She also won on Belmont Stakes day, taking the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps. She defeated, among others, returning Beldame rival House Rules, as well as last year’s champion 3-year-old filly Untapable. Wedding Toast was simply the fastest horse out of the gate in that race and couldn’t be caught. This race could set up in similar fashion.
CURALINA

The only other horse in here that appears capable of going with Wedding Toast early is Hot Stones. The 5-year-old mare trained by Bruce Levine seems to enjoy Belmont. She’s won three times and placed twice in seven starts over the track. She won the Grade 3 Bed o’ Roses Handicap at Belmont going seven furlongs and also cruised to a three-length score in an optional allowance race at Belmont in June. Although Hot Stones followed that up with an incredible 9 1/4-length score against state-breds in the Saratoga Dew Stakes last out, I’ve got to rank her a notch below the two classy fillies discussed above.
Finishing second to Hot Stones in the aforementioned optional allowance at Belmont was Catch My Drift. The 4-year-old daughter of Pioneerof the Nile might be lost in the hype here surrounding Curalina and Wedding Toast but I think she might be coming up to a big race. Last fall, she was closing ground late on then-unbeaten Dame Dorothy in the Grade 3 Turnback the Alarm Handicap at Belmont going a mile and sixteenth. I’m not sure if she’s good enough to win this race but I can see her picking up the pieces late.
Rounding out the field are Call Pat and House Rules. Call Pat appears a bit outclassed despite a Grade 3 score at Ellis Park last out. As for House Rules, she’s 0 for 5 at Belmont and hasn’t been able to finish within five lengths of Wedding Toast in two races since beating her in February at Gulfstream.
That said, I’ve narrowed the field down to three horses: #2 Wedding Toast, #4 Catch My Drift and #1 Curalina. Betting on a $20 budget, I would suggest the following wagers:
$1 trifecta box 1, 2, 4 ($6 total)
$1 superfecta 2 with 1, 4 with 1, 3, 4 with ALL ($12)
$400,000 Beldame StakesSaturday, Belmont Park, Race 5, 3:06 p.m. ET1 1/8 miles, dirt, fillies and mares, 3 years old and older

PP

Horse

Jockey

Trainer

Owners

Odds

1

Curalina

John Velazquez

Todd Pletcher

Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners

3-1

2

Wedding Toast

Jose Lezcano

Kiaran McLaughlin

Godolphin Racing

6-5

3

Hot Stones

Javier Castellano

Bruce Levine

Roddy J. Valente, Charles Casale and Darlene Bilinski

6-1

4

Catch My Drift

Irad Ortiz Jr.

Chad Brown

Hidden Brook Farm

5-1

5

Call Pat

Luis Saez

Brad Cox

Miller Racing

15-1

6

House Rules

Junior Alvarado

Jimmy Jerkens

Joseph V. Shields Jr.

10-1