A trio of six-figure races highlight the Friday, March 14 card on the special, 3-day Virginia Derby weekend meeting at Colonial Downs. All three Friday sprints are part of a 50-cent Late Pick 4 wager that shapes up this way:
CNL 5th race (2:28 p.m. EST) -- REPLY, a $450,000 sales buy, will try to follow her mother’s footsteps in her debut for the high-percentage Brittany Russell barn. Her dam, Special Relativity, didn’t win until her fifth start, but she was a two-time stakes winner, multiple graded stakes-placed and a $535,000 earner with a 26/8-5-6 record. Russell stands 10-for-30 the last three years with first-out runners going one mile or longer on the main track; however, 21 of those same runners went off at 3-1 odds or less. REPLY is today’s solo play in the Pick 4.
CNL 6th race (2:58 p.m. EST) -- Eight of the 11 fillies and mares entered in this $150,000 handicap arrive with $90,000 or more in earnings and can nearly double their bankroll with a victory. Parx-based trainer Michael Moore sends out an uncoupled dual threat of PURE LURE, who won 3 of her last 4 starts, and MARY Q, an easy winner from post 10 in a crowded long sprint two starts ago. However, with in-form runners who last raced at seven different venues, hit the ‘ALL’ button in Leg 2.
CNL 7th race (3:28 p.m. EST) -- Millionaire BOOK EM DANO, a Grade 1 winner at 7F off a similar three-month layoff last year, is using today’s featured $150,000 Boston Handicap as a stepping stone for a return trip to Dubai for next month’s Group 3 Saudi Derby. In his last three races at the distance, he won the G-1 Woody Stephens, rallied for third behind three-time graded stakes winner Domestic Product (4-10, $819k) in the G-1 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial, then was upset by 28-1 shot Bruncini – who raced 4-wide in the stretch -- in the G-3 Perryville at Keeneland. He worked out a good trip from off the pace in the Perryville until he was in ‘very tight’ while splitting rivals in mid-stretch. If he doesn’t live up to probable odds-on favoritism, CELTIC CONTENDER, a three-time minor stakes winner at 7F in the last eight months, could seize the moment. He eased back at the half-mile marker as 4-to-5 choice Quint’s Brew (4-5, $246k) got away from the field and ‘finished with good energy’ for second.
CNL 8th race (3:58 p.m. EST) -- DOUBLE AIRO was visually impressive in her second runaway victory at 5-1/2F with second-time Lasix. NOQUESTIONABOUTIT sprinted to a long lead and held on to win in a heavily-bet 4-1/2F debut 10 months ago. She makes her return today with Lasix for trainer Michael Trombetta, the leading conditioner at Colonial Downs last year. VEHEMENTE finished third in a blanket finish at Aqueduct behind the 9-to-5 winner and runner-up Delray, who came back to romp in a $50,000 optional claimer with an 84 Beyer speed figure. WINFINITY sprung an 11-1 upset in a restricted stakes race to launch her career here last August. She returns to the main track for the first time since then off a series of bullet workouts for a 15-percent layoff barn.
Suggested 50-Cent Ticket
CNL 5th Race: 3
CNL 6th Race: ALL
CNL 7th Race: 2, 6
CNL 8th Race: 1, 3, 6, 7, 8
Cost: $55
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