Nobody said Keeneland’s Late Pick 4 would be easy to hit, but it remains highly rewarding for those who do. Fueled by several longshot winners the last two Fridays, the Pick 4 paid $4,300 and $2,878, respectively, for a 50-cent ticket. And those who participated in 1/ST BET and Xpressbet's Hit & Split Promo shared in one million reward points if they had the winning combination. With 11 or 12 entrants scheduled to run in each race this Friday, another blockbuster payout looms.
KEE 7th race (4:12 p.m. EST) -- A rapid-fire pace involving several of the favorites is all but assured in this turf allowance, bringing some closers into better view. NO WAY HUDSON rallied to lead at the stretch call in the Grade 3 Green Flash Handicap at Del Mar at 5F before three-time Grade 3 winner and favored Motorious rallied from far back to prevail. MID DAY IMAGE, a 13-time turf winner and $500k earner, offers better value, but the 8-year-old will have to step it up a notch in this field. HIGH FRONT set a :43-4/5 pace before tiring in the $150,000 Harvey Pack at Saratoga, but he’s versatile enough to revert to off-the-pace tactics in his second start off the Asmussen claim. Like JEAN VALJEAN the most among the speedballs. He blazed to three consecutive front-end victories by a combined 9-3/4 lengths on the grass with 95, 95 and 93 speed figures.
KEE 8th race (4:44 p.m. EST) -- LONG NECK PAULA, a debut winner in :51-2/5 at Churchill Downs, was 4- to 6-wide in the Schuylerville Stakes at Saratoga and ‘improved position’ to finish third behind The Queens M G, who came back to win the Grade 3 Adirondack by 9 lengths. Then the 2-year-old filly found gears as needed to win the Prairie Meadows Debutante by 7-1/2 lengths over GLEE, who followed with a 15-length minor stakes victory and draws post 2 in this field. DANCING MAGIC saved ground until the stretch, followed the move of the odds-on winner and finished a clear second with stalking tactics that could come in handy in today’s $200,000 Myrtlewood. TRUST FUND PHILLY sustained a 5-wide rally into the stretch to get past the favorite after the pace collapsed in her Maiden Special Weight debut victory.
KEE 9th race (5:16 p.m. EST) -- LES REYS, an eye-catching stakes winner in France two back, rallied into a soft pace and caught the 43-1 leader in the final sixteenth to win the Winter Memories Stakes at Aqueduct in her U.S. debut. She returns at the same distance in the featured Grade 2 Valley View. OPERA MUNDI arrives in North America for the high-percentage, new acquisition barn of trainer Brendan Walsh. She beat the boys in stakes company in France and could be sent from the rail off a solid series of 5F workouts in a field that lacks pace. POOLSIDE WITH SLIM was dead game in winning the Penn Oaks, a beaten favorite in her follow-up stakes try and a troubled fourth behind Les Reyes in the Winter Memories. (NOTE: If #16 Kehloe Beach draws into the race off the also-eligible list, include her on the Pick 4 ticket.)
KEE 10th race (5:48 p.m. EST) -- Trainer Brad Cox is 1-for-8 at the Keeneland meet with heavily-bet first-time starters. POINTS IS POINTS is sure to draw some attention. She is by Constitution, the 12th leading sire in 2024 by progeny earnings, and out of the dam Viva Vegas, a multiple graded stakes-placed router, albeit on the turf. PHANTASMICAL is a longshot worth using on the ticket. She returns from a 15-month layoff in a new barn. She was roughed up at the start and finished last in her debut, but the race produced three graded stakes winners – Aly’s Beach (G-1), Life Talk (G-2) and The Queens M G (G-3). ON COMMAND finished between two next-out winners in a turf-to-dirt mile two starts back, then she set the pace again and finished third in a double-key grass race at Kentucky Downs. HI’IAKA dueled from mid-stretch to the finish in a photo-finish setback on turf, but she topped her previous best Beyer speed figure by 21 points and shows a strong work tab on Keeneland’s synthetic track since then.
Suggested 50-Cent Ticket
KEE 7th Race: 6, 8, 9, 10
KEE 8th Race: 5, 10, 12
KEE 9th Race: 1, 2, 4 (Add #16 if in race)
KEE 10th Race: 2, 4, 6, 9
Cost: $72
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