The parade of losing favorites on Opening Day came to an end with the fourth race – switched from the turf to the sloppy main track – won by 5-2 choice Tar Beach, one of two horses in the race entered for the main track only.

The other MTO in the fourth, 7-2 Chef Eric, was along late to complete a $20.80 exacta.

The simple lesson here is that main-track-only entrants are usually hard to beat when a race comes off the turf. So let’s see how MTO Ponte Vecchio does in the fifth race, and MTO’s Stopbluffing, Stealth Missile and African Diamond do in the sixth.