Saturday's Belmont Park card offers some of the best racing of the year. With so many stars on the Belmont Stakes undercard, there are likely to be many short-priced winners. It will be vital to find the right middle and high-priced winners to surround a few of the expected heavy favorites. Below are three horses that will go off at nice prices on Saturday that each look primed for a big effort.
Race 9: No. 5 Dr Zempf, 8-1
Chad Brown's gelding should appreciate returning to a sprint after showing good speed and fading in the ultra-competitive Maker's Mark Mile (G1). All of Dr Zempf's success in Europe came sprinting and his impressive American debut came at the tweener distance of 7 1/2 furlongs at Gulfstream Park in his first race as a gelding. His style should be perfect for this distance as he will come from mid-pack on Saturday. There should be a plethora of speed for Flavien Prat to chase down.
Race 10: No. 3 Dr. Schivel, 10-1
Beating Cody's Wish will be a tall task, but if anyone is going to defeat the heavy favorite it will likely be a loose front-runner. Mark Glatt's Grade 1 winner Dr. Schivel will be on the lead as he stretches his California speed out to one-mile. This field has multiple early pace pressers, but does not have any other runners that do their best running on the lead. He should be able to handle a one-turn mile and looks back to his best form after an easy win prepping for this race last month. He will try to steal it and if Cody's Wish runs him down, that will still result in a good exacta box.
Race 13: No. 10 Shpilkes, 8-1
Shpilkes will be overlooked in the wagering while shipping in from Parx, but this gelding should not be ignored. He is one of only two runners in this race with more than one career win despite having only four lifetime starts. He has been facing open company and now catches a field of New York-breds. He is out of an Irish mare, which is why it is no surprise that his two turf tries have arguably been his best races. This gelding still has upside to grow and it is significant that Jose Ortiz climbs aboard.
