Picks: Belmont’s $22,951 Pick 6 carryover and Churchill Downs NHC qualifier

A $22,951 Pick 6 carryover at Belmont Park and an NHC qualifier tournament focused on Churchill Downs are two betting opportunities horseplayers can pursue on Saturday.

$500 Churchill Downs Claiming Crown NHC Qualifier tournament

The 12-race card at Churchill Downs kicks off at 1:00 p.m. ET and includes the Claiming Crown, a lucrative series of starter allowances featuring large and competitive fields. If you want to play the card, consider participating in the $500 Churchill Downs Claiming Crown NHC qualifier tournament. The top two finishers will earn entries into the National Horseplayers Championship (NHC).

To climb the leaderboard, players must wager at least $250 of their bankroll across at least five races at Churchill Downs, with a minimum of $25 in a given race required for that race to count toward the five-race minimum.

One horse we recommend betting early on the card is first-time starter #7 Quality Lace (7-2) in Race 2, a six-furlong maiden special weight for fillies and mares.

Quality Lace is a well-bred daughter of four-time Grade 1 winner Quality Road out of Alabama (G1) winner Embellish the Lace. She enters off an encouraging series of workouts for trainer David Fawkes (a 21% winner with horses debuting at the maiden special weight level), and red-hot apprentice jockey Yomar Ortiz Jr. (who rides with a seven-pound weight allowance) has the mount.

There’s a lot to like about Quality Lace, including her 7-2 morning-line odds, so we recommend placing a $25 win bet on the bay filly.

$22,951 Pick 6 carryover at Belmont Park

The $1 Pick 6 at Belmont Park gets underway in Race 5 at 1:40 p.m. ET with a $22,951 carryover up for grabs. Bettors seeking a single to build tickets around should consider the filly #2 More Champagne (3-1), who is facing males in Race 8, the Awad S. for two-year-olds dashing six furlongs on turf.

More Champagne exits a third-place finish in a quick renewal of the Matron (G3) against fellow fillies. She came home only 2 1/4 lengths behind runner-up Harpers Corner, who returned to cross the wire third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G1).

More Champagne’s Matron effort yielded a 92 Brisnet Speed rating, the highest number earned on turf by any of the Awad entrants. She appears well-spotted to snag a stakes win for hot trainer Thomas Morley, a 20% winner at Belmont this meet.

Good luck!