Top pick: #6 (CHEROKEE EMPIRE) - Has good speed, is improving, and his trainer (Graham Motion) will send him around two-turns this afternoon. Colt is bred for the distance and has a sharp work on August 15. The top pick.
2nd pick: #4 (Our Commander) - Gelding showed major improvement in his second start and his last two works at his home-base of Laurel are very fast. His trainer (Gary Capuano) is strong on the stretch-out move (31%).
3rd pick: #5 (Hudson Steele) - Decent debut saw this colt from the Pletcher barn race wide and finished with interest. Trainer won a two-year-old race earlier in the meet with a runner being sent around two-turns for the first time.