the schedule would see those features back loaded on the latter half of the program. That's not the case, however, with Saturday's 11-race card at Aqueduct, as three of the four stakes are sprinkled throughout the card having gone with five or fewer entries.

Odds-on favorites captured both stakes at Belmont Park on Monday's observed Independence Day holiday, with Gufo kicking off things by getting back in the win column for the first time this year in the $150,000 Grand Couturier S. over 1 1/2 miles on the turf.