Top pick: #11 (BAJAN SUMMER) (7-2) - Lightly-raced gelding comes off a solid effort here on May 29th. Racing off a 6 1/2 month layoff and facing state bred special weights he finished 4th of 10, beaten three lengths. The red hot Clement barn drops him into a claimer and has him making back-to-back starts for the first time. The horse to beat.
2nd pick: #9 (Downgoesfrazier) (3-1) - Grey gelding has finished second in four of seven races on the grass and is 3-0-2-0 locally. Working steadily for his first since early Nov, he missed by a "nose" here at this trip off a 5 1/2 month break last year. Win candidate.
3rd pick: #1 (Sounds of Saratoga) (12-1) - He has early speed and will be dropping in class and racing second back from a 7 month break. He tired badly in his return start racing on a muddy surface in an off the turf contest on May 22nd and the switch back to the infield is a plus.
4th pick: #10 (Vecino) (5-1) - Very lightly-raced 4-year-old ships up from Pimlico where he tired after setting a pressured pace when facing tougher. It was a positive effort and came off a 19 month layoff. Drops in class and trainer Mike Matz brings him back in a month for this attempt.
5th pick: #5 (Island Therapy) (10-1) - He keeps plugging along and has gone 6-0-2-1 this year when facing weaker on the dirt. Bred to like the grass, he's racing on it for the first time and is also moving up in class.