Thursday's Best Bet: Ocean Knight ready to rumble at Belmont Park

Thursday's 7th race from Belmont Park (10-12-17) is an Optional Claiming event for 3-year-olds and up traveling one mile on the main track. 

#6 OCEAN KNIGHT  (5-1) faced stakes foes in 6 of his last 10 and was 1-2 in his four optional claiming starts during that time frame. In his last three local fast track starts at this distance, he was 3rd in the G2 Kelso, 2nd by a nose in an optional claimer, and 1st by a head vs. optional claiming foes. He figures in the hunt throughout under Castellano.  

#3 Touchofstarquality (5-2) faltered to finish a distant last in the muddy State Dinner July 3 but that race was too bad to believe. He has fired Trifecta shots in 8 of 10 local outings and could rebound in a big way while reconnecting with his winning rider Ortiz. The fresh gelding fired a local training track bullet for this Oct 4 and should make his presence felt throughout.  

#7 Vulcan's Forge (8-1) got plenty of pace help in a local optional claiming score at one mile Sept 15 and probably won't get the same setup today. He is 2-for-2 at BEL and will try to get involved late for the productive Saez/Pletcher team.

#2 Clever Royal  (12-1) has hooked some decent foes recently and I have made some money on him over the years in SoCal. Sharp trainer Diodoro (32% blinkers off) reached in and took him for $62.5k July 21.