How to bet the Wise Dan and Audubon Stakes

Belmont Park isn’t the only track hosting quality Thoroughbred racing this weekend. Churchill Downs will join the fray with a pair of stakes races on Saturday.

The $100,000 Audubon S. and the $200,000 Wise Dan (G2) have both drawn deep, competitive fields.

Let’s play both races on a $50 budget.

Race 6: Audubon S. (1 1/8 miles on turf, 3:25 p.m. ET)

In a race containing very little speed, #8 Summer to Remember (7-2) can spring a mild surprise. Two starts back, the Todd Pletcher-trained colt made an early move into a hot pace in Gulfstream Park’s 1-mile Cutler Bay S., a tactic that should have proved exhausting. But Summer to Remember fought on surprisingly well down the lane to finish fourth by just 2 1/2 lengths against Grade 1 winner Decorated Invader.

Summer to Remember figures to set or press a modest pace Saturday, which gives the son of Summer Front every chance to produce a career-best performance.

A win bet is in order, but we’ll also key him in the exacta, with stakes winner #4 Pixelate (7-2) and #2 Spanish Kingdom (10-1), who flashed tactical speed when he dominated a 1 1/8-mile allowance race at Churchill Downs three weeks ago.

$15 to win on #8 Summer to Remember
$3 exacta: 8 with 2,4 ($6)
$7 exacta: 2,4 with 8 ($14)
Total: $35

Race 9: Wise Dan (G2, 1 1/16 miles on turf, 5:01 p.m. ET)

The frontrunning #3 Factor This (8-5) looms as a heavy favorite after he wired the Fair Grounds H. (G3) and Muniz Memorial (G2) racing 1 1/8 miles at Fair Grounds, but this is a large field, and there’s no guarantee Factor This will shake loose on an uncontested lead.

If you want to play outside the box, #4 Eons (50-1) is worth a look. The son of Giant’s Causeway won four straight races last year, culminating with a hard-fought triumph in the 1 1/8-mile Kent (G3) at Delaware Park, where he sprinted the final furlong in :11.36 to prevail by a neck.

Eons subsequently faltered badly when he finished last in the Saratoga Derby, but the fact that he went to the sideline immediately afterward hints he may have suffered an injury during the running. On the bright side, he has returned to post a steady string of workouts for trainer Arnaud Delacour, who strikes at a 27% rate with horses returning from long layoffs.

Draw a line through the Saratoga Derby and Eons’ form doesn’t look bad, so let’s bet him to win and play him under “ALL” in the exacta. If he cracks the top two, we’ll be rewarded with a big payoff.

$5 to win on #4 Eons
$1 exacta: ALL with 4 ($10)
Total: $15

Good luck!