1/ST Preakness Wager Guide | free access, daily updates
The sun is setting fast on Pimlico Race Course’s storied 150-year history, but before the sun sets on Preakness weekend, racing fans can create their own memories, starting with the 50-cent Late Pick 4 Friday, May 16. More than $400,000 was bet on last year’s Black-Eyed Susan Day Pick 4 and with three graded stakes and 44 entries in this year’s sequence, it could trigger a big payout. And don't forget to play in Friday & Saturday's $20,000 Exacta-Thon with 1/ST BET and Xpressbet, where there's also a $10 Money-Back Special on win bets for the Black-Eyed Susan and Preakness Stakes.
Here’s a look at the Friday action:
PIM 10th race (4:07 p.m. EST) -- Thirteen 3-year-old fillies are scheduled to go post-ward in the $150,000 Miss Preakness Stakes in search of their first graded stakes victory. California invader VODKA WITH A TWIST (pictured) is the class of the field and knocking on the door with two Grade I placings as a 2-year-old. She raced close up for 6F in her seasonal debut and ‘fought on’ to the quarter pole in the 1-1/16- mile Santa Anita Oaks despite early trouble. She worked a pair of 5F bullets since that start and should have plenty of pace to run at if she avoids a wide trip in her first start outside of post 6. STUNNER blazed 4 furlongs in :46.3 since her runner-up finish in the Grade II Beaumont at 7F. She was no match for three-peat winner Verity as the odds-on favorite on a sloppy track. FAMILY could be fastest away on the switch to the high-percentage barn of Saffie Joseph Jr., who won with two of the last four new acquisitions that he ran in graded stakes company. She is my top choice in here. Longshots G.W.’s GIRL and HIGH PAF get a spot on the ticket. G.W.’S GIRL proved versatile in a pair of minor stakes wins at this distance and was heavily bet before back-pedaling against STUNNER in the Beaumont. HIGH PAF takes a big jump in class, but she overcame slow starts with a pair of photo-finish victories and has the right running style for the top local barn of trainer Brittany Russell.
PIM 11th race (4:38 p.m. EST) -- The winners of the $100,000 The Very One this decade arrived from four different tracks and paid an average of $11.60 to win. More than half the full field in this year’s 5F turf sprint for fillies and mares arrive from various venues. The late-running LOON CRY is 7-for-11 on the lawn, a two-time stakes winner and a deserving favorite. She has navigated crowded fields before but has never raced this short of a distance. With a 40-percent chance of rain in the advance forecast, I’m going 8-deep in this leg.
PIM 12th race (5:10 p.m. EST) -- PYRENEES reportedly will be scratched from his title defense in the Grade III, $250,000 Pimlico Special. Either way, PHILEAS FOGG will be a solo play in the Pick 4, albeit at a much shorter price than his 5-1 morning line. He was taken off the rail to stalk the pace in the 1-1/4-mile Excelsior Handicap at Aqueduct, inhaled the hellbent leader on the turn and drew away from the pursuing favorites for his fourth open-length, long-distance victory in five starts for trainer Gustavo Rodriguez.
PIM 13th race (5:44 p.m. EST) -- RUNNIN N GUNNIN, slowed by the pace when third in the Grade II Fantasy at Oaklawn Park, goes 1-1/8 miles for the first time as she looks to make amends in the featured Grade II Black-Eyed Susan. She left too much work to do as the top pair separated from the field, but her performance was enhanced when fifth-place finisher KINZIE QUEEN – one of her rivals today – won a $200,000 allowance and sixth-place Princess Aliyah returned to win a $200,000 stakes race. The daughter of 2017 Horse of the Year Gun Runner won the $250,000 Sunland Park Oaks at one mile in the race prior, before sixth-place finisher Maysam came back to win the Grade III Santa Ysabel at Santa Anita. AMARTH settled into a good stalking position in her one-mile seasonal debut in the Busher Invitational at Aqueduct. She swept to a brief lead on the turn and shook from the duel at the 16th pole before the winner rallied from far back. She was no factor in the Grade I Ashland last out. MARGIE’S INTENTION has two wins, two seconds and three 78 Beyer speed figures in four starts this year while facing eight next-out winners along the way.
Suggested 50-Cent Ticket
PIM 10th Race: 3, 4, 5, 6, 12
PIM 11th Race: 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 14
PIM 12th Race: 1
PIM 13th Race: 3, 4, 5, 8
Cost: $80
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