This finale is a tricky race in which none of the likely short prices are all that appealing. Lemon Blitz (10) may go off as the favorite, but I don’t trust this runner. He ran well two back in his first start for Jeremiah Englehart, but he failed badly in a dirt experiment last time and he’s been a vet scratch twice since that race. Clearly, something is keeping him off the racetrack, and I don’t trust him to get back to his best effort here. The two runners with the best recent turf form come out of the same race.

Riendo (1) and Millies Party Boy (5) are both dropping out of maiden special weight company. I thought Riendo did well to stay involved for most of the 9-furlong journey last time after rushing up to contest the pace from a wide post position. Millies Party Boy never really got involved from the back of the pack in that same race, but he’s been keeping much tougher company in a number of spots and now he finally gets the class relief that he needs. I’m using both of these horses, but I think this is a race where a new face could make some noise.

CUARENTA (6) was risked for a tag in his dirt debut last time and he didn’t do much running. He was sluggish early and made up a bit of ground late before galloping out fairly well. His connections apparently don’t think much of him, but at least they do appear to be recognizing that he’s probably a turf horse. We don’t yet know much about Forty Tales as a sire, but he has gotten a turf winner. On the dam’s side of his pedigree, Cuarenta is clearly bred to prefer turf, as he is a half-sibling to runners that handled both turf and synthetic surfaces, and his dam was strictly a turf horse. Surprisingly, Todd Pletcher actually does very well with these runners. Over the past five years, he is 5 for 9 (56 percent, $7.13 ROI) with second time starters going from dirt to turf in maiden claiming races.