I’m going to play for Giacomo provided the price is right. Proud Accolade clearly reacted to the huge effort at Belmont on short rest in the BC. I think he’ll move back toward that top but I’d be surprised if he paired it. Wilko’s race in the BC was a substantial effort and I can easily seem him moving backward off that race. The fact he popped a quarter yesterday leaves more questions for me – the first sign of the stress? I’ve made a career out of playing against horses like Declan’s Moon in spots like this. He may be good enough to beat me but if he does it will likely be at a bad price. He also faces a tough pace scenario here in my estimation. Like Class, I would have thought seriously about Bushwacker in a sprint but to my mind he’ll still play a critical role here on or near the front end. Giacomo has a healthy line and I give him more of a chance to move forward here than the Thoro-Pattern suggests. He has two two-turn routes under his belt and the last was a decent race. The winner came back to win the Jackpot and the second place horse also returned to win. The pace of the race was decent but the top two were able to gallop along before really hooking up midway on the turn on a track that in my estimation was carrying speed. I know Hollywood has been speed favoring as a rule and the same could be true today but there are a lot of questions in my mind about all three major contenders and I think the pace scenario will advantage a horse like Giacomo. I think he’ll improve a few lengths here. I’ll play Giacomo to win and under Proud Accolade and Wilko in case either fire their best shot. Shop some around Giacomo in the pick four as well.

Good luck to all if you play.