Spot Plays for Belmont Park Oct. 1, 2026

Due to inclement weather in New York last weekend, Belmont Park’s major Breeders' Cup turf preps for older horses and other stakes were postponed until Thursday. Quality racing like this isn't unusual during the week at the major English festivals, so it's a refreshing change of pace to have it happen in this country even if it wasn’t planned.

Here are a few horses I’ll be looking at on the top-heavy, eight-race card.

Race 4: Winter Memories (G3), 3:46 p.m. ET

#4 Hand Over Heart (10-1) has no stakes experience but showed a lot of character in her first-level allowance debut at Saratoga on Aug. 8. Taking the worst of it when checked at the start, the daughter of Constitution was already 11 lengths back at the first call. However, she turned in a sustained rally and was just up in time to finish on even terms with Sail With the Wind, a New York-bred who came back to just miss in the Yaddo S.

A granddaughter of Hall of Famer Serena’s Song and a half-sister to multiple graded-stakes winner Made You Look, Hand Over Heart perhaps is destined to make her mark at this level, too. She might not have to improve much to contend here at a decent price, especially if she gets a less troublesome trip.

Race 7: Joe Hirsch Turf Classic (G1), 5:18 p.m. ET

Not exactly going out on a limb to endorse #1 El Cordobes (2-1), but have a feeling his starting price might not be as low as the morning line suggests. 

All things being equal, the Godolphin representative is the classiest horse in the field, based on his 2025 form in England and the U.S. Bettors might be cool, though, given he hasn’t run since February. Trainer Charlie Appleby has essentially picked this race as a starting point toward more lucrative races in the Middle East over the winter.

Appleby has also said the Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1) could come into play should El Cordobes run well here. That might imply he’s not sending a short horse into this, and unlike last year’s Turf Classic, there are no rivals like Rebel’s Romance to fear here.

Race 8: Flower Bowl (G1), 5:48 p.m. ET

I don’t think we saw the best of #10 Cathedral (9-2) in the Diana (G1) last time, perhaps due to the softish course conditions. She’s proven better than that before, including a surprising fourth at 90-1 in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1).

Her second in the Dahlia (G3) in early May is a solid piece of form, as the winning Jancis narrowly missed recently in the E.P. Taylor (G1), while third-place Survie won the Glens Falls (G2) and Christophe Clement Turf (G1) at Saratoga over the summer. Although still eligible for the N1X allowance condition, Cathedral is still plenty qualified to run well here.