Knickerbocker
Belmont Park, ninth race. Grade 3. Purse: $150,000. 1 1/8 miles, turf, 3-year-olds and up. Post: 5:06 p.m.
LOWDOWN:
Boisterous won the Knickerbocker last year, coming into the race off a record very similar to what he has done this year. The 5-year-old is 4-for-7 over the turf at Belmont Park, and he excels over a soft course.
TV: HRTV, TVG, NYRA Channel 71.
QUEEN ELIZABETH CHALLENGE CUP
Keeneland, ninth race. Grade 1. Purse: $400,000. 1¹/ miles, turf, 3-year-old fillies. Post: 5:21 p.m.
LOWDOWN: If she didn’t get stopped cold rallying in mid-stretch in the Lake George at Saratoga, a race she lost by just a half-length, Stephanie’s Kitten, winner of last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, would be undefeated on turf this year. She has an imposing late kick, and it appears her best races are still ahead of her.
TV: TVG, NYRA Channel 71
LAVA MAN CALIFORNIA CUP CLASSIC
Santa Anita, ninth race. Purse: $175,000. 1 1/16 miles, 3-year-olds and up. Post: 8:08 p.m.
LOWDOWN:
Holladay Road appears to be rounding to his best form as he makes his third start back off a three-month layoff. The 7-year-old gelding has won more races (three) over this track than any of his foes, and he closed from far back to finish fourth in the Big Cap last March against a much better field than he faces here. The big question is carrying highweight of 124 pounds, giving 10 pounds to Rousing Sermon.
TV: HRTV, NYRA Channel 71.
LAST WEEK: At Belmont Park, Archwarrior (3-1) was fourth in the Champagne; at Keeneland, Tizracer (3-1) was 12th in the Breeders’ Futurity; Dominus (9-1) ran sixth in the Shadwell Turf Mile.