How to bet with, and against, Masen in the Poker Stakes

Masen wins the Seek Again Stakes (Photo by Chelsea Durand/Coglianese Photos)

June 17th, 2022

A compact field of five will travel one mile on the Belmont turf course in Saturday’s $250,000 Poker S. (G3). The Chad Brown-trained #1 Masen (6-5) has been very impressive from two starts since arriving in the U. S. and looms a menacing figure in the contest. By Kingman, the four-year-old finished a close second when contesting the Maker’s Mark Mile (G1) in his U. S. debut, and he returned with a dominant five-length stakes tally in the Seek Again S. on this surface last month.

Masen has displayed fine early foot combined with a strong late kick, and the Juddmonte homebred has been training in solid fashion in advance of this tilt, as well. The gelding picks up pilot Flavien Prat for this race and will likely be tracking the pace from second from the early stages of the tilt.

A nose second when making his U.S. debut in the Maker’s Mark Mile (G1) in mid-April, Masen will make his third U.S. appearance when lining up for Saturday’s $250,000 Poker (G3) at Belmont Park.@James_Scully111 previews the field ⤵️ https://t.co/EBrtvW6o3R pic.twitter.com/oBXVdmoYvU
— TwinSpires Racing 🏇 (@TwinSpires) June 17, 2022

#2 Sanctuary City (7-2) doesn’t win often, but the consistently solid James Ferraro trainee has won or placed on seven occasions at this venue, and he brings good form to the field, as well. The Temple City five-year-old rallied for a sneaky-good fourth in this contest in 2021 against a deeper cast, and with something resembling that performance the bay will be a late danger at a fair price in the small field. Kendrick Carmouche retains the mount atop the late-running New York-bred.

#5 Wolfie’s Dynaghost (5-1) could be controlling speed in the race with Luis Saez in the stirrups. Conditioned by Tom Albertrani, the Ghostzapper colt tired in the lane when ultimately third in the Seek Again S. over a "good" surface, and he will perform better if the oval is firm on Saturday. The four-year-old bay showed his class with a runner-up performance in the Appleton S. (G3) at Gulfstream Park two back and would be a top-three contender with any kind of improvement off of that outing. The Kentucky-bred colt is worth including at a decent number.