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America’s Day At The Races Plans Weeklong Coverage Of Belmont Park, Churchill Downs

America's Day at the Races, the acclaimed national telecast produced by the New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) in partnership with FOX Sports, will air 25 hours of coverage Thursday through Tuesday, with stakes action from Belmont Park, Churchill Downs and Santa Anita Park.

Presented by America's Best Racing and Claiborne Farm, America's Day at the Races will broadcast live racing action this week, including a special half-hour show on Tuesday, June 1 from 11-11:30 a.m. that will air the draw for the 153rd running of the Grade 1, $1.5 million Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets on Saturday, June 5.

Broadcast schedule for America's Day at the Races (all times Eastern):

Thursday, May 27
FS2: 5 – 8:30 p.m.

Friday, May 28
FS2: 12:30 – 5:30 p.m.

Saturday, May 29
FS2: 12:30 – 6 p.m.

Sunday, May 30
Bally Sports SoCal: 3 – 5:30 p.m.
FS2: 4 – 4:30 p.m.

Monday, May 31
FS2: 12:30- 8:30 p.m.

Tuesday, June 1
FS2: 11-11:30 a.m. [Draw for the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets]

Thursday will feature Churchill's eight-race evening card from the Louisville, Kentucky track, offering a 5 p.m. first post. Belmont Park will not conduct racing on Thursday.

Friday will see live racing action at both Belmont and Churchill, and the two tracks will also offer compelling Saturday slates, with the Grade 2, $200,000 Pennine Ridge for 3-year-olds and up going 1 1/8 miles on the turf highlighting the Belmont card. Churchill's packed Saturday card will feature the Grade 3, $125,000 Matt Winn for 3-year-olds going 1 1/16 miles; the Grade 3, $125,000 Regret for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/8 miles on the turf; the $125,000 Aristides for 4-year-olds and up sprinting six furlongs; the $125,000 Blame for 4-year-olds and up going 1 1/8 miles; the $125,000 Shawnee for fillies and mares 4-years-old and up contested at 1 1/16 miles; the $100,000 Audubon for sophomores going 1 1/8 miles on the turf; and the $100,000 Douglas Park for 4-year-olds and up.

Sunday will see the $100,000 Paradise Creek for sophomores competing at seven furlongs on the Belmont turf.

A special Memorial Day Monday card at Belmont will feature New York Breeders' Showcase Day, offering six stakes races for New York-breds. A pair of $200,000 races – the Commentator for 3-year-olds and up going one mile and the Critical Eye for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up going the same distance, highlight the card. Other stakes for state-breds will include the $125,000 Mike Lee for sophomores going seven furlongs; the $125,000 Mount Vernon for older fillies and mares at one mile on the turf; he $125,000 Kingston for 4-year-olds and up on the turf; and the $125,000 Bouwerie for sophomore fillies going seven furlongs.

Monday's telecast will also feature live coverage of a trio of graded stakes from Santa Anita Park, including the Grade 1, $300,000 Shoemaker Mile on the turf for 3-year-olds and up; the Grade 1, $300,000 Gamely at nine furlongs on the turf for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up; and the Grade 3 Hollywood Gold Cup at 1 1/4-miles for 3-year-olds and up.

Tuesday's half-hour show will air the draw for the Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets, the third leg of the Triple Crown known as the “Test of the Champion” for its famed 1 1/2-mile distance. Among the expected entrants for the American Classic is Grade 1 Preakness-winner Rombauer, Eclipse Award-champion 2-year-old Essential Quality and Grade 2 Louisiana Derby-winner Hot Rod Charlie. The draw will take place from Belmont Park.

America's Day at the Races is also broadcast on NYRA's YouTube channel which boasts more than 70,000 subscribers. Fans can subscribe to NYRA's channel and set a reminder to watch the show on YouTube Live. NYRA's YouTube channel also hosts a plethora of race replays, special features, America's Day at the Races replays and more.

Free Equibase-provided past performances are available for races that are part of the America's Day at the Races broadcast and can be accessed at https://www.nyra.com/belmont/racing/tv-schedule.

NYRA Bets is the official wagering platform of Belmont Park, and the best way to bet every race of the spring/summer meet. Available to horseplayers nationwide, the NYRA Bets app is available for download today on iOS and Android at www.NYRABets.com.

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Derby Fifth-Place Finisher O Besos Headlines Saturday’s Matt Winn Stakes

Bernard Racing, Tagg Team Racing, West Point Thoroughbreds and Terry Stephens' Kentucky Derby (Grade 1) fifth-place finisher O Besos headlines a field of eight 3-year-olds that were entered in Saturday's $150,000 Matt Winn (G3) – one of seven stakes events on the 11-race Stephen Foster Preview Day card at Churchill Downs.

The 1 1/16-mile Matt Winn shares the Saturday spotlight with the $150,000 Regret (G3), $150,000 Aristides (Listed), $150,000 Blame, $150,000 Shawnee, $150,000 Audubon and $110,000 Douglas Park Overnight Stakes. The action-packed program gets underway at 12:45 p.m. (all times Eastern) and the Matt Winn is carded as Race 9 at 4:55 p.m.

O Besos, a 3-year-old son of Orb, closed into the early Kentucky Derby pace but flattened in the final furlong to cross the wire fifth. Trained by Greg Foley, O Besos had several options on the table following the Derby but opted to stay at Churchill Downs for the Matt Winn.

“We love running at Churchill and this race gives us plenty of options going forward,” Foley said. “He worked an easy half-mile (in :49) Monday morning and is doing well from the Derby. We can lead him over for the race right from Barn 11.”

Jockey Marcelino Pedroza, who rode O Besos to a third-place finish in the $1 million TwinSpires.com Louisiana Derby (G2) and in the Kentucky Derby, has the call in the Matt Winn from post No. 3.

Chief among O Besos' rivals in the Matt Winn is D J Stable's $400,000 Tampa Bay Derby (G2) winner Helium. The Mark Casse trainee finished 10th in the Kentucky Derby. He'll be ridden in Saturday's race by Julien Leparoux from post 2.

Also entered in the Matt Winn field is Juddmonte's $300,000 Oaklawn Stakes winner Fulsome. Trained by Brad Cox, Fulsome broke his maiden on turf but was transitioned to dirt in April at Keeneland when a first-level allowance event changed surfaces due to inclement weather. Fulsome defeated six rivals by 3 ½ lengths that day, which catapulted him to a 1 ¼-length win in the Oaklawn Stakes on May 1.

Florent Geroux has the mount from post 5.

The complete field for the Matt Winn (from the rail out with jockey and trainer): Ready to Pounce (Brian Hernandez Jr., Neil Pessin); Helium (Leparoux, Casse); O Besos (Pedroza, Foley); Southern Passage (Corey Lanerie, Dale Romans); Fulsome (Geroux, Cox); Hello Hot Rod (Francisco Arrieta, Caio Caramori); Sittin On Go (Joe Talamo, Romans); and Game Day Play (David Cohen, Robertino Diodoro).

Churchill Downs' admission gates will open Saturday at 11:30 a.m. and tickets, starting at $5, are available on www.ChurchillDowns.com/tickets. For those outside the Louisville area, all 11 races are scheduled to be televised on Fox Sports 2 from 12:30-6 p.m. Fans can also watch the live simulcast feed and wager on www.TwinSpires.com, the official ADW of Churchill Downs Incorporated.

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Maxfield ‘Can Keep Improving,’ On Target For Stephen Foster

Godolphin's talented 4-year-old multiple graded stakes winner Maxfield is on target to make his next start in the $600,000 Stephen Foster (Grade 2) on June 26 at Churchill Downs.

“We brought him over to Keeneland after Derby Week at Churchill and we are targeting the Stephen Foster,” trainer Brendan Walsh said. “He'll make his way back to Churchill and we'll likely work him Saturday. I think the timing of this race works out well for us because it's the same timing following his race in the Santa Anita Handicap (G1). We know he loves it here at Churchill and I think with age and time he can keep improving.”

Maxfield rebounded from his third-place effort in the Santa Anita Handicap with a dominating 3 ¼-legnth score in the $400,000 Alysheba (G2) on the undercard of the Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1).

The homebred son of Street Sense was an early Kentucky Derby (G1) favorite in 2020 but was forced to the sidelines with an injury to his right front leg. The colt spent nearly seven months away from the winner's circle but returned at the end of his 3-year-old campaign with a 2 ½-length win the $75,000 Tenacious Stakes at Fair Grounds.

Nominations for the Stephen Foster close Saturday, June 12. The 1 1/8-mile race is a “Win and You're In” event for the Nov. 6 Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) at Del Mar. The winner will receive a berth to the season-ending championship event.

Next Saturday is Stephen Foster Preview Day at Churchill Downs with seven stakes races. Many of those races will be used as stepping stones to seven stakes on Stephen Foster Day. The fields for Stephen Foster Preview Day continue to take shape and likely entrants will become available in the coming days.

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Saturday’s Cross Country Pick 5 Features Stakes Action From Belmont, Churchill

The New York Racing Association Inc. [NYRA] will host a Cross Country Pick 5 on Saturday featuring stakes action from both Belmont Park and Churchill Downs.

Free Equibase past performances for the Cross Country Pick 5 sequence are now available for download at https://www.nyra.com/belmont/racing/cross-country-wagers.

Belmont will host the first two legs, starting with the $100,000 Seek Again for 4-year-olds and up going one mile on the Widener turf in Race 9 at 5:12 p.m. Eastern. Grade 1-winner Decorated Invader will headline the field, with the Christophe Clement trainee, who won the 2020 Grade 2 Pennine Ridge and the Grade 2 Hall of Fame, facing talented competition.

Among those contenders will be Get Smokin, who started his 4-year-old campaign with a three-quarter length score in the Grade 3 Tampa Bay going 1 1/16 miles on February 6.

Trainer Chad Brown will send out a pair of contenders, with Delaware, who won the Danger's Hour at Aqueduct last month to mark his first North American win in seven starts since arriving from Europe in 2019, and Flavius, who ran second to Count Again in the Grade 2 Seabiscuit Handicap in November at Del Mar.

Belmont's 10th race finale at 5:44 p.m. will see a field of filly and mare maiden claimers 3-years-old and up compete at 1 1/16 miles on the inner turf. The hard-luck Emma and I, who has ran second by a neck in both of her last two starts, has been knocking on the door for trainer James Ryerson, with three runner-up finishes and two third-place efforts in seven career starts. Emma and I earned a field-best 60 Beyer Speed Figure last out going 1/16 miles on May 1 over the Belmont turf, marking her first start on grass after her three previous outings were on the main track.

Night racing at Churchill will comprise the final three legs, with a 1 1/16-mile main track maiden special weight slated for Race 7 at 9:05 p.m. Closet Shopper, a $600,000 purchase at the 2019 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, has twice placed in five career starts, with the Gregory Foley trainee running third last out on April 9 going one mile at Keeneland. Foley will also send out Kizzy B, 0-5-2 in 10 career races, but has earned placings in three consecutive starts.

A one-mile allowance optional claiming tilt will be the wager's penultimate contest in Race 8 at 9:39 p.m. Finnick the Fierce, who was on the early 2020 Triple Crown trail with a third-place finish in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby and later a seventh-place finish in the Grade 2 Blue Grass in July. Finnick the Fierce ran seventh in a turf optional claimer last out on April 30 at Churchill but will be returning to the main track on Saturday.

The Cross Country Pick 5 finale will showcase the $110,000 Keertana for older fillies and mares going 1 1/2 miles on the turf set for Race 9 at 10:11 p.m. Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott will send out Delta's Kingdom, who has twice finished as the runner-up in graded stakes competition in the Grade 3 Bewitch last out in April at Keeneland and the Grade 3 La Prevoyante in January at Gulfstream Park sandwiched around a fourth-place effort in the Grade 3 Orchid in March in Florida. The field also includes Silverton Hill's homebred Pass the Plate, who finished a neck behind Delta's Kingdom in the Bewitch at Keeneland when stretching out to 1 ½ miles for the first time.

The minimum bet for the multi-track, multi-race wager is 50 cents. Wagering on the Cross Country Pick 5 is also available on ADW platforms and at simulcast facilities across the country. Every week will feature a mandatory payout of the net pool.

The Cross Country Pick 5 will continue each Saturday throughout the year. For more information, visit NYRABets.com.

Cross Country Pick 5 – Saturday, May 22:
Leg A: Belmont– Race 9, Seek Again (5:12 p.m.)
Leg B: Belmont – Race 10 (5:44 p.m.)
Leg C: Churchill – Race 7 (9:05 p.m.)
Leg D: Churchill – Race 8 (9:39 p.m.)
Leg E: Churchill – Race 9, Keertana (10:11 p.m.)

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