Pat On the Back - 2019 - The Affirmed Success Stakes

[Apr 26 ] - A rainy Friday made for a sloppy, then sealed, track on opening day of the Spring Belmont meet today. That made for two scratches - Runaway Lute and Tribecca - both on my ticket. The ticket included unscratched contestants Bavaro and Sudden Surprise, with a weight toward the long shot Sudden Surprise. Syndegaard was the favorite at post time.

Among New York top handicappers the selections were Bavaro (David Aragon), the scratched Runaway Lute (Dan Illman) and Pat on the Back, the winner (Mike Beers).

Sudden Surprise not surprisingly got a rocket start as ridden by Manny Franco, but six furlongs on this surface were too long against this crowd today. Bavaro may need a rest.

Sudden Surprise has consistent numbers, tho not as fast as the ones that bested him today. I'd like to see him over a truer track ( on which he could at least have bested Syndergaard ) with a more lucky or more nuanced steerage.

As for the winner Pat had his +'s (had run well in higher stakes company) and -'s (a few months off) - the one who said the layoff may not be an issue was the one who cashed the $8.50 bet today.