How to bet the 2022 Pumpkin Pie Stakes

A total of seven fillies and mares will travel seven-eighths on the Aqueduct main oval in Saturday’s $120,000 Pumpkin Pie S. Peter Brant’s #2 Boston Post Road comes off of a pair of huge allowance seconds in succession and seems poised to notch her initial stakes victory with improvement on Saturday.

Trained by Chad Brown, the daughter of Quality Road has run just six times to this stage of her development and has arguably never been better. The four-year-old, who was a $950,000 yearling buy, relished the Saratoga surface this campaign when just missing under the wire behind a pair of very good horses, and she has trained forwardly in the interim.

The dark bay comes in with a bullet five-furlong drill on the Oklahoma in her most recent morning breeze, and she possesses the tactical speed to be in striking range from the start on Saturday. Flavien Prat, who has been in the saddle of the top selection in two straight endeavors, retains the mount.

The class of the field is #5 Glass Ceiling, who finished a head shy of winning this race last season for conditioner Charlton Baker. The multiple Grade 3 heroine has delivered subpar efforts in her last pair, however, and I find it difficult to back her with total confidence in her current form cycle. The Constitution mare has excellent gate presence and will be pressing the pace from the start in this heat with her regular pilot Dylan Davis up.

For exotics purposes, I will use #3 Corey in the lower rungs of the gimmicks for trainer Peter Walder. The gray First Samurai filly is not especially consistent, but she has been keeping black-type company in her last five and also should fire coming in fresh for a solid layoff outfit. The Florida-bred four-year-old has a good post to flash her early speed, and she figures to be well-placed throughout the heat while making her local debut. Irad Ortiz taking the reins is a positive.

Pumpkin Pie Wagers

• $10 win and place: #2 Boston Post Road ($20)
• $2 superfecta: 2, 5 with 2, 5 with 3 with all ($16)
• $2 superfecta: 2, 5 with 2, 5 with all with 3 ($16)
• $1 superfecta: 2 with 3, 5 with 3, 5 with all ($8)