One of Canterbury’s marquee cards, the Northern Stars Turf Festival, takes place Saturday night with five big turf stakes. First post is 6:10PM ET and players on Xpressbet and 1/ST BET can play in a 2 Million Point Split , where they’ll take home their share of 1 Million 1/ST REWARDS Points by hitting the Early or Late Pick 5, both at an industry low 10% takeout.
For those betting, we’ll keep a close eye on the weather. Rain is forecast in Shakopee, Minnesota, which could impact the racing surface. For the sake of these picks, we will assume wet conditions, but no surface changes.
My focus is on the Late Pick 5 (Races 4 – 8), but both Pick 5 sequences, the other covering Races 1 – 5, are great betting opportunities. First post is 6:10PM ET and the Late Pick 5 starts at 7:40PM ET.
Race 4 (7:40PM ET) // Claiming
The sequence kicks off with a claiming dirt sprint. #9 ASTRONAUT OSCAR (5/2) is the big class dropper and is 7-for-25 in his career at Canterbury, making him a logical pick. #8 JOHNNY UP (9/2) and #3 WEST ISLAND (3/1) are the only others I’d want on my ticket.
Race 5 (8:10PM ET) // $40K Dark Star Turf Sprint
Grade 2 winner #1 ARREST ME RED (5/2) heads north for Wesley Ward and should be well backed at the windows. His resume is loaded with solid efforts in much stronger races and at six-years-old we can still expect ‘RED’ to have some gas in the tank. A potential hot pace would also help #2 JACKS OUTLAW (5/1). He stormed home earlier this month to win a turf sprint at Canterbury and would be the one to beat if the favorite falters. #10 BAD BEAT BRIAN (4/1) has lived up to his name, but has the top-end talent to be right there as well.
Race 6 (8:40PM ET) // $50K Brooks Fields Mile
#8 GOLDEN BANDIT (5/2) is perfect on this turf course (3-for-3) and employs a ‘catch me if you can’ style that often runs his competitors into the ground. A course labeled ‘good’ was no problem for him last out, as he won an allowance race by more than 7-lengths on this course. He may take pressure up front, which pushes me to put #2 KENNEBEC (5/1) on the ticket. He has won three straight since a barn change at distances between one mile and one and seven-eighths of a mile.
Race 7 (9:10PM ET) // $50K Canterbury Derby
#1 NAVY SEAL (9/5) is the other half of Wesley Ward’s 1-2 punch, and this son of Dubawi brings top class to Minnesota. He ran 5th in the G2 UAE Derby in March, beaten 8-lengths by Forever Young, and previously was beaten just 4-lengths in the G1 Criterium International at Saint-Cloud by Sunway over a soft turf course. I could argue that this is an ‘unusual’ place for a horse of this caliber to make his US debut, but he should be tough to beat. #3 HOLD YOUR APPLAUSE (6/1) and #6 ILLUSTRATOR (5/2) make sense on deeper tickets.
Race 8 (9:40PM ET) // Starter Allowance
Larry Rivelli’s #6 BAXLEY (3/1) appears to be ‘speed of the speed,’ as Rivelli horses often are. The son of Klimt broke his maiden on debut at Hawthorne last year by 5+ lengths and was a competitive fifth at 6/1 odds in a first-level allowance at Keeneland in October, indicating he is well regarded. #4 KONTEEKEE makes sense if the race falls apart up front, and she ran a great race in the slop at Oaklawn in April.
My Ticket
Race 4 – 3, 8, 9 Race 5 – 1, 2, 10 Race 6 – 2, 8 Race 7 – 1, 3, 6 Race 8 – 4. 6
Ticket Cost – $54 for 50-cents
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