Saturday's Best Bet: Channel Cat has tactical edge in United Nations

Saturday’s eleventh race from Monmouth Park is the Grade 1 United Nations Stakes for 3-year-olds and up traveling a mile and three-eighths on the turf course (Post Time 5:28 p.m. ET).

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#2 CHANNEL CAT (7-2) owns running style versatility and should be forwardly placed in a race without much pace. The 4-year-old colt reconnects with winning rider Luis Saez, and he might be sitting on a top effort in his third start after a layoff. 

#1 Bigger Picture (3-1) is an 8-year-old gelding in peak form. He owns a pair of graded marathon wins this year and should save all of the ground under Joe Bravo. 

#4 Focus Group (2-1) rallied to beat my top choice by less than a length at this distance at Saratoga last summer. Chad Brown's late runner needs pace help. He stayed relatively close to slow fractions in the Pan American (G2) March 30, and he won that race by a nose under his regular rider Jose Ortiz.  

#6 Zulu Alpha (4-1) is capable of stalking the pace, and Channing Hill guided him to three victories last year, including the Sycamore (G3) at Keeneland. He won a couple of graded turf marathons at Gulfstream earlier this year.  

Wagers:

#2 to win

Exacta 2/1-4-6

Exacta 1-4-6/2

Recent Best Bet Winners:

June 15 - Desert Law/Coil Me Home Exacta ($6.70)

June 18 - Redeem My Heart/Suzie'ssteppinout Exacta ($24.20), Trifecta ($27.00)

June 21 - CALL YOU TOMORROW ($4.00), Exacta ($3.50)