Wednesday's Best Bet: Grand Journey looks superb in Schuster Memorial

Wednesday’s 9th race from Indiana Grand is the $75,000 Jonathan B. Schuster Memorial Stakes for four-year-olds and up traveling a mile and a sixteenth on the turf course (Post Time - 6:40 p.m. ET).

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#5 GRAND JOURNEY (6-1) is a 6-for-12 turf pro exiting a nice optional claiming score at Gulfstream, and Mike Maker claimed him out of that race for $62,500. They must have had this stakes race in mind, and he placed in a similar non-graded event in Florida last year. There are not standouts in this competitive heat, and we have seen Maker turn these veterans into stakes winners on more than one occasion. 

#10 Hay Dakota (5-1) is another making his first start after the Maker claim, and he nabbed this one for $62.5k June 3. He does some of his best work at this distance and will try to get involved late under Julien Leparoux. 

#2 The Black Album (3-1) was occasionally decent in the sophomore turf route stakes ranks last year. This is his first start in more than eight months, and he can stalk or close. 

#7 Cullum Road (6-1) earned competitive numbers in four of his last five starts, but he has dropped nine straight since capturing an allowance turf route at Keeneland April 2019. 

#9 First Premio (6-1) has been competitive in his non-graded stakes starts on turf. His recent form is not great and Miguel Mena has been struggling on turf recently, but he has struck three times at this distance. Mixed signals.  

Wagers:

#5 to win

Exacta 5-10/2-5-10

Trifecta Key 5/2-7-9-10

Trifecta 2-7-9-10/5/2-7-9-10

July 2020 Best Bet Winners

July 4 - GUFO ($3.20), Trifecta ($34.30)
July 5 - NIGHT OPS ($4.90), Exacta ($18.40)

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