Can you answer the $100,000 question? If you pick the winners of the last three races at Gulfstream and Santa Anita this Friday, Feb. 20, a six-figure payout could be headed your way. The Sunset 6 pool starts with a $64,000 carryover and could grow to six figures when the new money for the $1 wager is added.
GP 8th race (3:50 p.m. EST) -- Going 5-deep in this crowded grass sprint for fillies and mares at 5F. THANKFULLY posted a career-best 80 Beyer in winning a main-track sprint, now changes surfaces in her second start for trainer George Weaver, whose runners are 7-for-27 on the Gulfstream turf in the last three years with an average $11.20 payout. NANA’S CORN MUFFIN caught 3-to-5 favorite Hot Cargo (6-16, $233k on turf) in her only turf start since 2024. It was her second start off a similar layoff to the one she’s on today. INDEPENDENCE AVENUE won on four turf courses in 11 starts and runs for the cheapest price of her career. SOD SIREN set faster fractions than a same-day, $62,500 optional claimer when she broke her maiden in October, the last time she raced. THE DOVE RULES made a late, wide run but settled for second behind an odds-on repeat winner.
GP 9th race (4:20 p.m. EST) -- NAVY CROSS didn’t corner well after a bumpy start, settled down to press the longshot pace-setter to the stretch but flattened out as the favorite in a shorter route race. He steps up off the claim and should hold a decided tactical advantage from close-up in a field that lacks speed, but he’s still a risky play at a short price. LAS OLAS was slowed by the pace last out and is a live longshot despite a 2-for-35 record. He met four next-out winners and two runners-up – all with 80-plus Beyers -- in his previous four starts.
GP 10th race (4:50 p.m. EST) -- SAPPHIRE GIRL, unhurried while saving ground behind a fast pace, sustained a rally to break her maiden at this distance, before a non-factoring stakes try. She will be an underlay with Irad Ortiz Jr. getting the call, but she should be on the ticket. FISH MOONEY is 0-for-14 on the lawn, but she rallied for minor awards in 3 of 4 turf routes at Gulfstream, two at this level.
SA 7th race (6:33 p.m. EST) -- If SHARON’S BEACH doesn’t ‘bounce’ off his seasonal debut, he should win this Maiden Special Weight sprint at odds-on. He chased favored Liam Smith and ‘dug in late’ to miss in a photo finish at 6-1/2F. He showed marked improvement with Lasix and the performance was validated when Liam Smith came back to win a $50,000 optional claiming race by 11 lengths with a 90 Beyer.
SA 8th race (7:03 p.m. EST) -- LINO’S ANGEL defeated seven of the same rivals in January, six in the same spot at 6F last out. But she had trouble at the break in 3 of her last 6 starts and it could change the complexion of this 5-1/2F sprint as she draws post 9 for the first the first time in her career. I’ll try to beat her with three better-priced options. MEMETIC appeared outrun as the 2-1 favorite, but she was racing on short rest and hit her best stride in the final sixteenth. She’s worth using with a strong maiden victory on the Santa Anita dirt to summon. STILL UNWRITTEN showed good zip on the dirt to start her career, then returned from an eight-month layoff and went wire-to-wire in her turf debut, running 2/5 faster than a split-division race on the same card. She remains a front-end presence on the surface switch. PASALUBONG steadied and lost momentum into the turn behind the dueling leaders but recovered with a contending rail rally in the stretch before flattening out late. She gets in light with apprentice Alfredo Bautista summoned to ride.
SA 9th race (7: 33p.m. EST) -- AFTERNOON NAP is working up a storm on the Santa Anita dirt after facing some hard-hitting turf rivals like stakes winner Flyover, recent $50,000 optional claiming winner Proof He Rides and multiple stakes-paced Cali Cat. The last time he ran on the main track, he pressed stakes winner Lonesome Stew (5-10, $189k) before fading in a long sprint. COACH CRONIN was dull as the favorite in his last start, but he is reunited with Kamura, who coaxed open-length victories from the 6-year-old the two times he rode. He projects a similar up-close journey from a favorable post on the heels of a :35-1/5 bullet workout.
Suggested $1 Ticket
GP 8th Race: 1, 4, 5, 7, 9
GP 9th Race: 4, 5
GP 10th Race: 3, 4
SA 7th Race: 2
SA 8th Race: 2, 4, 8
SA 9th Race: 3, 7
Cost: $120
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