Pimlico Picks & Analysis for May 2

Now with under two weeks to go before the G1 Preakness, racing at Pimlico continues on Sunday with an eight-race card. Our in-house handicapper has taken a close look at the program, providing picks for every race and analysis of his strongest opinions throughout the day.

If you're looking for picks elsewhere around the country on Sunday, be sure to check out our Free Horse Racing Picks via the gold button below.

Most Likely Winner:  Belfour (Race 4) - There are a couple other intriguing runners going first off-the-claim for live outfits, but it would take a good deal of improvement for any of them to beat Belfour, who is coming off a convincing win at this level. Belfour isn’t the soundest of runners as his career has had a few starts and stops, but when he’s right he’s a terrific starter-allowance type. If he repeats his last race for the red-hot John Robb I don’t see him getting beat.

Best Value:  Atreyu (Race 5) - This horse did fall off at the end of last year over a turf course he loves, but I trust trainer Crystal Pickett to have him ready to go for his 2021 debut. At his best, Atreyu is a terrific lower-level claimer and was actually undefeated on turf until he suffered a pair of losses on the surface to close out 2020. I think the time off will have done him well, and if he’s in similar form to what we saw earlier in 2020 at Delaware Park, he should have no trouble handling this group at inflated odds.

Other Races of Interest:  Race 2 - Golden Can (#3) is probably going to get underestimated by bettors as she goes out for the small outfit of owner/trainer/breeder Hassan Elamri. This is your classic case of bettors putting too much emphasis on trainer, and not considering that Golden Can’s turf form is clearly superior to her competition. She does have to deal with a lengthy layoff, but there’s the possibility that she actually improves as she makes her 4-year-old debut.

Race 7 - This is another fun and competitive turf race on the card. There’s a few different options to choose from, but I like the inside-drawn Moon Chant (#1) most of all. This mare can be a little up and down, but her lone race over this turf course was a quality effort, and at her best I just think she’s better than the rest of this field. She seems to be working very well over the main track at Penn National, and I suspect she’s going to be very live off the layoff for trainer Bernie Houghton.

*If you're interested in seeing payouts for these races, you can find them on our Results page linked to below*