Top pick: #9 (OUR EMERALD FOREST) (3-1) - Irish-bred is lightly raced and comes into this off a trio of of three straight races where he's come up a "neck" short of winning. Two of those came on this surface in June, and the latest was at Saratoga on Sept. 1. Stalker gets a slight edge.
2nd pick: #10 (Town Extension) (7-2) - Grey son of "Speightstown" finished fourth at Saratoga on July 21st in his only previous grass attempt and home-bred had a troubled trip that afternoon. He comes off a career best when racing on the dirt here Sept. 14 and is a win candidate with a repeat of that effort on the turf.
3rd pick: #8 (Bellamy Chief) (10-1) - Lightly-raced colt runs today with a number of changes. Colt has a new trainer (Bill Mott) 25% with new arrivals, and he switches him to the grass, stretches him out in distance, and removes his blinkers. A sharp work here five days ago suggests that he'll run well at a nice price.
4th pick: #5 (Buddy's Tiz) (20-1) - Longshot cost $400K and enters off an even effort here at this level and distance on Sept. 20. Race was his first in five months and he gets the addition of blinkers this afternoon. Can impact at a big price.
5th pick: #2 (Ay No Digas) (4-1) - German-bred colt ran well in both starts in his native country and was bet heavily in his latest when checking in third of six, going 11 furlongs on May 12th. He has a new trainer (Chris Clement) 23% with new arrivals, and he adds lasix for this attempt. Can factor, but will be over-bet.