Four stakes at Belmont this afternoon, led by the Grade 1 Champagne for 2yos. The main track is fast and the turf courses are 'good'.

The supporting stakes are the Grade 1 Beldame; the $150k Turf Sprint Invitational; and the Grade 2 Hill Prince, for 3yos on turf and carrying a purse of $500k. 

The Champagne is an excellent race, featuring a matchup between impressive maidens winners at Saratoga in Endorsed and Complexity. They are joined by several other interesting colts, including Code of Honor (86 Beyer winning first out for Shug), Trophy Chaser (96 Beyer rolling in the slop at Gulfstream to break his maiden); and Aurelius Maximus (easy maiden win over this one-mile distance at Belmont early in the meet). 

The Turf Sprint Invitational goes through Disco Partner as he looks to rebound from a flat performance at Saratoga. He caught the kind of soft ground that he doesn't act over in the Troy, but the turf courses appear to have firmed up enough to get him back on track. 

The Beldame may well be the coming out party for Wow Cat, who arrived from Chile with an undefeated record and has since lost both of her races over here. She ran well in the Shuvee while appearing to need that race, then was in against the top two older mares in the country in the Personal Ensign last time. Today's the day for her to break through if she is going to have any impact on this division. 

Verve's Tale is an infrequent winner but she fits well in this field and she likes this nine-furlong distance. I thought she had the best chance to pull off what would be a minor upset. 

The Hill Prince goes through Raging Bull, who is looking for his third straight graded stakes win for Chad Brown. He could easily be undefeated right now and appears to just be better than this crop of 3yo turf horses right now. The scratch of Ride a Comet only helps his chances. 

The 10-race card kicks off at 12:30 ET. Scratches and changes are here.