How to bet Saturday's Belmont Park all-stakes Pick 4 on a budget

Belmont Park is offering an all-stakes Pick 4 on Saturday with the sequence including the featured Grade 1, $700,000 Man o’ War Stakes. 

It begins with Race 8, the $150,000 Runhappy Stakes with a scheduled post time of 5:14 p.m. ET. It will be followed by Race 9, the Grade 3, $400,000 Beaugay Stakes; Race 10, the Grade 3, $350,000 Peter Pan Stakes; and Race 11, the Man o’ War, as a final leg.

The Pick 4 will have a minimum bet of 50 cents, and once again, I will use one of my favorite cost-effective wagering strategies, the spread ticket formula. It would cost $150 to lump all of my contenders on one ticket, but the spread ticket formula knocks the price down to a more affordable $44.

Race 8 (Runhappy, 6f) 

Primary - #3 KING KRANZ, #2 Westwood

Secondary - #1 Skyler’s Scramjet, #4 Great Stuff

Comments: #3 King Kranz (9-2) moved to the Rudy Rodriguez barn and promptly won both of his optional claiming starts this year at Aqueduct, including an April 19 neck tally as the chalk under today’s recently hot rider Irad Ortiz Jr. (7 for last 16). #2 Westwood (2-1) is 0-for-3 at 7 furlongs, so it was not surprising to see him weaken in the G3 Commonwealth at that trip last time. He is 3-for-3 at 6.5 furlongs, and ended up 3rd in his lone start at this distance in 2017 (4 next out winners). #1 Skyler’s Scramjet (7-5) is 4-for-4 at this distance and owns the best overall numbers. He will not offer any value and cannot afford to make any mistakes from the inside post. #4 Great Stuff (7-2) is a decent late runner, and the pace dependent horse might run out of ground at 6f (11 1-4-3 at this distance).    

Race 9 (G3 Beaugay, 8.5f inner turf) 

Primary - #6 A RAVING BEAUTY, #2 Inflexibility

Secondary - #1 My Impression, #4 Lido, #3 Tricky Escape

Comments: Chad Brown probably has this turf race surrounded with the two favorites. #6 A Raving Beauty (2-1) won a couple of overseas turf routes last year and ended her 2017 campaign with back-to-back group place finishes in Italy and Germany. She drilled a Florida turf bullet for this April 29 and got a spin over the local turf course May 6. Irad Ortiz Jr. takes the call. #2 Inflexibility (8-5) is 4-for-6 with a 2nd on turf (2 wins at 8.5 furlongs). She is an obvious threat under Javier Castellano. 

Race 10 (G3 Peter Pan, 9f) 

Primary - #6 HIGH NORTH, #3 Just Whistle

Secondary - #1 Core Beliefs

Comments: #6 High North (4-1) added blinkers and put it all together in a sharp stalk-and-pounce victory in the Northern Spur last out at Oaklawn. Florent Geroux and Brad Cox click at a 40% rate together. #3 Just Whistle (5-1) hooked a pair of next-out winners in his sprint debut last summer. Fast forward to 2018, and he stretched out and was clearly second best from post 10 at Gulfstream March 3 when Hofburg ran 1st, and followed that up with a sharp two-turn maiden win at Keeneland April 14. It looks like the longer the better for the Michael Matz trainee, and his pedigree evidences that (Pioneerof the Nile-Street Cry). His dam And Why Not (also trained by Matz) banked more than $260k and placed in multiple graded races (Spinaway, Pocahontas, Obeah, Del ‘Cap). I could definitely see this one in the Belmont Stakes if he runs well in this spot. #1 Core Beliefs (2-1) should be forwardly placed from the rail but will likely take too much win action due to his distant show finish behind Justify in the Santa Anita Derby. #5 Diamond King (7-2) is expected to scratch and run in the Preakness next weekend. 

Race 11 (G1 Man o’ War, 11f inner turf) 

Primary - #6 CALL PROVISION, #2 Sadler’s Joy

Secondary - #7 Hi Happy, #10 Money Multiplier, #8 Bigger Picture

Comments: #6 Call Provision (9-2) did not get any pace help in his needed G2 Elkhorn return. He fired exacta shots in all five of his turf starts at this distance last year and will try to get involved late for the productive Jose Ortiz/Chad Brown team. There does seem to be some pace in this event, and that should also help #2 Sadler’s Joy (3-1). The latter rallied for 4th in the G2 Pan American, and that event was dominated by the two early runners. He owns a couple of late running grade two turf wins at this distance.

All-Stakes Pick 4 Spread Tickets (Races 8-11, Total Cost - $44):