Best Bets for TABtouch Stakes Day at Belmont.

With only a month remaining of the Belmont season, a firmer track is finally on offer this Saturday.

The course proper was rated a Soft 7 on Thursday morning, but with fine conditions on hand for the remainder of the week, that will improve.

Although the rail will be out 9m on Saturday, it will still be fresh going along the fence after the rail was out 16m for Wednesday's meeting.

There's not a whole lot to talk about with the feature this weekend, it's more a case of enjoying the sport.

Cosmic Crusader comes up a short-priced favourite in early betting following a triumphant return to racing last week after almost a year off the scene.

While the quick turnaround may be a query, it is probably the only query for the son of Maurice who was in Railway calculations last year before an injury sidelined him.

Now he's back as good as he left and is not the second favourite in Railway markets.

Cosmic Crusader is not a betting proposition on Saturday, though I am not game enough to back anything to beat him following a dominant display just last week.

Sensessional is racing well but concedes his main rival 4.5kg under the conditions of the race. With only two points separating them in the RAS Ratings, that's a big swing in favour of the Grantham-trained runner, with improvement likely with that run under his belt.

It's a case of watch and learn with the Peters Investments galloper with better races on the horizon.

Race four on the card looks a good opportunity to bet with SILVER EYE not opening as the favourite despite an impressive first-up win.

He handled the Heavy conditions with ease, picking up his rivals from back in the pack over 1000m and running away to score by 1.1L under Clint Johnston-Porter.

Silver Eye usually improves with a run under his belt and has scored twice from 4 second-up attempts, a key stat following his big win a fortnight ago.

While he may be looking for further, he does draw to sit closer than he did last time out and if he can improve on what he did fresh, then he'll be very hard to hold out.

The knock on Kay Tee Why is the fact he hasn't trialled coming into this campaign.

I will admit that his form looks strong last time in work with the likes of Shmoov Moova and Repossession, it would've been nice to see him trial coming into the campaign and we've seen this scenario fail more often than not.

The booking of Pike suggests he's ready to fire and he does have upside, but the race fitness and a possible advantage on the map has me leaning the way of Silver Eye.

Although he went under a fortnight ago, I'm sticking fat with IMMORTAL BLISS in the last race of the day.

His RAS Ratings will show he is better than what he showed there when maybe lacking a turn-of-foot behind Silver Eye last time out in what was only a fairly run 1000m.

The worry was remaining at 1000m last start and while that may not have been the sole reason he went under, the rise to 1200m now is a big tick.

Immortal Bliss should get into a lovely position midfield, ahead of his market dangers Eliteone and Sixinch Heels. He looks set up to peak following the short freshen heading into his last start, and if he can do that on Saturday, he'll be getting the job done.

The Best From The West

Race 4 #4 SILVER EYE

Race 8 #5 IMMORTAL BLISS