Westchester
Belmont Stakes, ninth race. Grade 3. Purse: $150,000. 1 mile, 3-year-olds and up. Post: 4:58 p.m.
LOWDOWN:
Big Screen showed enough promise last year at 3 to run in the Peter Pan and Hill Prince, and he seems to have blossomed this year as a 4-year-old. Coming off a six-month layoff for Tom Albertrani, he scored in his return by six lengths going a mile at Gulfstream Park, ran second going 1¹/ miles, then ran off the TV screen going a mile at Aqueduct, winning by 9 1/4 lengths to earn a huge Beyer number of 110.
TV: HRTV, TVG, NYRA Channel 1994
SNOW CHIEF
Hollywood Park, ninth race. Purse: $300,000. 1¹/ miles, Cushion track, 3-year-old California-breds. Post: 8 p.m.
LOWDOWN:
Tiz a Minister is on the bubble, points-wise, to make the field for the Kentucky Derby; instead he stays home for this spot. Fourth last out in the Santa Anita Derby, before that he ran third in the San Felipe, beaten just a length, while outfinishing top Derby prospect Goldencents. All three of his starts over the synthetic surface at HollyPark have been solid.
TV: HRTV, TVG, NYRA Channel 1994
DERBY TRIAL
Churchill Downs, 10th race. Grade 3. Purse: $175,000. 1 mile, 3-year-olds. Post: 10:42 p.m.
LOWDOWN:
Capo Bastone appeared to have a big future last year when he was fourth in the Del Mar Futurity and third in the Front Runner (formerly the Norfolk) and the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, all Grade 1 races. Transferred by John Sadler’s barn to Todd Pletcher’s, he won his first start this year at Gulfstream, then didn’t fire in the Spiral on Polytrack. Cutting back to a mile for a trainer who’s winning nearly every Derby prep race in sight should get him back on the winning track.
TV: HRTV, NYRA Channel 1994.
LAST WEEK: At Keeneland, Cerro (6-1) was fourth in the Lexington; at Hawthorne, Dewey Square (9-1) was eighth in the Illinois Derby; at Charles Town, Game On Dude won the Charles Town Classic paying $2.60, $2.20, $2.20.