Plenty of Fireworks Saturday at Belmont, Delaware

Belmont Park and Delaware Park each run five stakes Saturday, July 6.

An all-graded stakes pick five at Belmont encompasses the Dwyer (G3) featuring the return of Code of Honor; the Belmont Oaks Invitational (G1T); the John A. Nerud (G2), formerly the Belmont Sprint Championship and a Breeders' Cup Challenge event for the Sprint (G1); the Belmont Derby Invitational (G1T); and the Suburban (G2). NBC will provide television coverage from 4-6 p.m. EDT.

The Delaware Oaks (G3), Robert G. Dick Memorial (G3T) and Kent (G3T) top a solid program at Delaware that also includes the Cape Henlopen and the Carl Hanford Memorial.

Also of note on the stakes schedule are the $250,000 Parx Dash (G3T) for turf sprinters at Parx Racing; and the $200,000 Great Lady M. (G2), which Marley's Freedom will attempt to win for the second straight year out at Los Alamitos Race Course.

Belmont and Delaware have linked for a 50-cent "Cross Country Pick Five" that goes Belmont Oaks-Delaware Oaks-R.G. Dick-Belmont Derby-Suburban. The weather is similar for both venues: hot and humid with a 50% chance of scattered thunderstorms through the afternoon.

Let's go through the sequence in race order.

Belmont Oaks (Bel, race 7, 4:30 ET): Chad Brown won this race the last two times it was run in the fall as the Garden City, and he then won three of the first four after it was renamed and re-positioned as part of the "Stars And Stripes Festival" package. He will send out three contenders in Newspaperofrecord (2), Cafe Americano (5) and Cambier Parc (9), while Aidan O'Brien, who captured last year's running with Athena at 10-1, is back with the pair of Coral Beach (3) and Just Wonderful (6).

Newspaperofrecord looks to get back on track after surrendering clear leads in the Edgewood (G3T) to Concrete Rose (4) at 1-5, and in the Wonder Again (G3T) to Cambier Parc at a miserly 15-100. She looks like the controlling speed again, but she'll have to settle through the early going a bit better than she has been. Rain could help her chances based on three sparkling efforts on yielding turf at age 2.

On the other hand, Cambier Parc is 3 for 3 on firm turf but she never got going on "good" ground in the Edgewood. How I use her will be a race-day decision based on the weather. She's an A on firm, but a B otherwise.

The European invader Olendon (1) is a key regardless of the footing after a solid closing effort to get second in the Saxon Warrior Coolmore Prix Saint Alary (G1T) at ParisLongchamp last out.

At boxcar odds I'm also using Dyna Passer (8), an improving half sister to the long-winded $2.1 million earner Sadler's Joy, who steps up after beating maidens on the course at 1 3/8 miles.

Firm:

A - 1, 9

B - 2, 4

C - 5, 8

Non-firm:

A - 1, 2

B - 4, 9

C - 5, 8

Delaware Oaks (Del, race 7, 4:37 ET): It's now-or-never time for Jaywalk (5), who was empty at 1-5 in the Davona Dale (G2) in her seasonal debut, and similarly disappointing when third in the Ashland (G1) at even money, before fading to a distant sixth in the Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1).

Blinkers come on now, but I've got to lean against the champ in favor of Avalina (3) and Fashion Faux Pas (4), who are on the upswing. Avalina is a photo finish away from being perfect through four starts capped by a facile score in the Parx Spring Oaks, while Fashion Faux Pas took the local prep—the Light Hearted—by better than 14 lengths in racehorse time.

A - 3, 4

B - 5

R. G. Dick Memorial (Del, race 8, 5:12 ET): Gentle Ruler (4) has won all three of her starts this year, climaxed by a three-quarter length decision over Gaining (3) in the Keertana in late May, and those two look like the right ones in this three-turn event. Gaining scratched from Friday's River Memories at Belmont in favor of this spot, and the Juddmonte Farms homebred is capable of turning the tables based on three wins overseas on ground rated soft or good-to-soft. If it rains, Gentle Ruler is downgraded from A to B status.

Theodora B. (1A), Lemon Zip (8) and Osare (9) are in the mix as well, and they have all won over non-firm turf. Theodora B., in fact, ran her best race last year on yielding ground and gets promoted to A status if the rains come.

Firm:

A - 3, 4

B - 1A, 8, 9

Non-firm:

A - 1A, 3, 9

B - 4, 8

Belmont Derby (Bel, race 9, 5:44 ET): An overflow field of 15 including one also-eligible was entered, including four from Chad Brown and two from Aidan O'Brien.

Brown's trio of Standard Deviation (2), Demarchelier (12) and Digital Age (13) are a combined 7 for 7 on grass, and he will also be represented by Rockemperor (14), who makes his first start outside of France and boasts winning form on soft turf.

Demarchelier has been a head and a neck better than Seismic Wave (3) in their two prior clashes, and was merely flashed the whip in winning the Pennine Ridge (G3T) in his prep for this.

The O'Brien duo merit some respect. Cape of Good Hope (9) is a full brother to Highland Reel, an earner of more than $10 million and a grade/group 1 winner on three continents for the same connections. Blenheim Palace is back a week after running second against older horses in the Full of Surprises International Stakes (G3T) at the Curragh; beware the aforementioned Athena won the 2018 Oaks coming back off a third in the Juddmonte Pretty Polly (G1T) six days earlier.

A - 3, 12

B - 9, 13, 14

C - 11

Suburban (Bel, race 10, 6:18 ET): Catholic Boy (1) was classy and versatile enough to win the Belmont Derby and Travers (G1) back to back last summer, and had a solid prep taking the Dixie (G2T) from the far outside post in his 4-year-old bow. He's the class of the field, as the only other grade 1 winner is Pavel (11), who took the Stephen Foster last year before it was downgraded.

Pavel's win in the Foster came second time back from a freshening in the aftermath of a trip to Dubai, and he is repeating that form pattern after running widest through the stretch of the Runhappy Metropolitan Handicap (G1) in his return.

I'm against the top three finishers from the Brooklyn Invitational (G2)—Marconi (4), Rocketry (3) and Realm (9)—because the first six under the wire that day were separated by just a length, which is often the sign of a mediocre race for the class.

We'll back up with a couple late bloomers in Preservationist (2), a lightly raced 6-year-old making his stakes debut in career-best form; and Wooderson (7), a half sister to 2009 Horse Of The Year Rachel Alexandra, who steps up after going through his allowance conditions at Keeneland and Monmouth Park.

A - 1

B - 2, 11

C - 7