Pick 4 of the Week: Belmont Park Saturday, October 17

I will target the late four-race sequence at Belmont Park on Saturday during Fall Starter Championships Day. 

Race 8 Wager

• 50-cent Pick 4: 3,4,5,9 with all with 1 with 4,10 ($32)

Race 8 

A field of nine fillies and mares will travel one-mile on the main oval in a very competitive way to commence the play. I’ll spread with four in the opening portion of the wager with the Linda Rice duo of #3 Snide (4-1) and #4 Mursal (3-1), as well as #5 Despo’s Dream (7-2), and #9 Beira (5-1). 

Race 9

Georgia Magic (6-5), trained by Steven Schauer, leads a one-mile dirt test for the boys. The dark bay son of Good Magic has kept tough company and while retaining fine form in advance of the tilt, and the four-year-old could surely win the race as the expected short-priced choice. But there are some good runners in the field, and it’s possible that the favorite might be a bit vulnerable in the heat, so I will click the ‘all’ button in hopes of getting value in the second leg. 

Race 10 

The boys will travel 1 1/16 miles on the green in the third piece of the play. Todd Pletcher’s #1 Highlands Way (5-2) is three-for-four with a second in 2026 and comes off a strong allowance win at Saratoga in his latest encounter. The Not This Time gelding will rally past his foes late after saving ground on the rail throughout under Manny Franco. I will single the four-year-old. 

Race 11

I feel that Rice has this heat covered with a pair of runners in the seven \-furlong dirt finale. #4 Secured Landing (2-1) is 10-for-23 with eight placings and has fine form coming into the heat. Omaha Beach five-year-old should thrive cutting back to seven-eighths on the oval. 

The race will have a swift and potentially contested pace, and if the speed backs up in the lane, then #10 Shoot the Nickel (4-1) will benefit most. The Violence four-year-old possesses a huge turn of foot on his best day and will be rolling home in the lane under Jose Lezcano.