Here are stakes picks for Thursday’s Belmont Park racing festival card. Updated to reflect scratches.
Race 3 | Grade III Wonder Again Stakes | 1 1/8 miles inner turf
1. Newspaperofrecord
2. Cambier Parc
3. Chocolate Kisses
4. Kelsey’s Cross
Comment: Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner Newspaperofrecord was respectable at Churchill Downs Kentucky Derby week and wins with a return to her best. Fellow Chad Brown stable runner Cambier Parc is the main threat looking for her third win in what will be her fourth 2019 start.
Race 7 | Astoria Stakes | 5 1/2 furlongs
1. Perfect Alibi
2. Reiterate
3. Ms Headley
4. Talk You Out of It
Comment: Perfect Alibi impressed in her debut and would seem a little farther along than the others. Reiterate will add a furlong but seems capable. Ms Headley can’t be ignored from the barn of juvenile specialist Wesley Ward.
Race 8 | Grade III Intercontinental Stakes | 7 furlongs turf
1. Stella di Camelot
2. Zonza
3. Significant Form
4. Fire Key
Comment: Stella di Camelot looms large in her 2019 debut for trainer Chad Brown, who specializes in turfers and horses off layoffs. Zonza, another Brown runner should improve in her second start of 2019 and her second U.S. start. Significant Form rounds out the Brown trifecta.
