It’s a Pick 5 with full fields on paper, but short-priced favorites abound in races 6 through 10 this Saturday, Oct. 10, at Charles Town for the 40th running of the West Virginia Breeders Classics. All five favorites are 9-to-5 or less on the morning line, shaping the potential payout dramatically for the 50-cent wager. Players at 1/ST BET and Xpressbet benefit greatly in payouts with $2,500 Hit & Split promotions on the late pick 5 and late pick 4 -- both sequences including the Race 7 1/ST BET West Virginia Breeders Classic race.
Here’s a closer look:
Charles Town, Race 6 (9:32 p.m. EST)
RYAN’S RUN was on a perfect four-race run by a combined 28 lengths until the streak ended in the $500,000 Robert Hilton Memorial last out. He dueled from the start until he gave way in the stretch of the two-turn sprint. He scratched from a Grade 2 stakes race at Parx to run in $75,000 Russell Road BC and remains the one to beat. Jeff Runco, the all-time leading trainer at Charles Town, also sends out a viable price option in PENGUIN’S PRIDE, who won three races by a combined 20-1/2 lengths but lost all chance with a ‘tangled start’ against RYAN’S RUN in the 7F Robert Leavitt Memorial on a muddy track.
Charles Town, Race 7 (10:02 p.m. EST)
THELASTSAY’S only loss in five starts since late April was at 7F against $500,000 earner OVERNIGHT POW WOW (see 8th race). She tracked a heated pace battle and surged 3-wide to prevail in the last jump for her first stakes victory last out. But MAGGIE’S GIRL was resilient, too, in the same $50,000 Autumn Stakes, dueling from the outset and missing by a neck in her first start off a 4-1/2-month layoff. The rematch should be a good one in the $75,000 1/ST BET Breeders Classic.
Charles Town, Race 8 (10:32 p.m. EST)
OVERNIGHT POW WOW just keeps winning … and winning … and winning. She has 12 wire-to-wire wins, all but one carrying 120 pounds or more, and seeks a re-run of her 2024 West Virginia Cavada BC victory. But PETTY PERFECT upset her in last year’s Cavada and arrives for her title defense in comparable form, with a projected ideal pace to rally into from the rail. She advanced inside on the second turn in an allowance race three weeks ago before OVERNIGHT POW WOW hit another gear in the stretch to prevail. LIL MISS HONKYTONK is a longshot to consider at 20-1 on the morning line in the $125,000 race for fillies and mares. She showed marked improvement since a $10,000 August claim, winning an allowance at 22-1 and returning on short rest to make a middle move to the lead and finish second on a ‘good’ track at tonight’s distance.
Charles Town, Race 9 (11:02 p.m. EST)
Defending Classic champ TEACHINTHERELEASE will go down as one of the best claims in Charles Town history. He is 11-for-15 with six stakes victories in seven starts (average 90 Beyer) since Robert Cole Jr. claimed him for $20,000 in June 2024. His main rival in 1-1/8-mile $300,000 Classic, JUBAWITHATWIST, starts from post 10 after he rallied to finish second in a pair of 7F matchups in August.
Charles Town, Race 10 (11:32 p.m. EST)
The most evenly-matched field in the Pick 5 sequence could be the finale. RAY OF SUNSHINE is a deserving favorite with a stakes victory and five consecutive 80-plus speed figures on a fast track, but he drew outside of post 5 only twice in the last year and got beat by 9 lengths both times. Hit the ‘ALL’ button in the race named after Onion Juice -- the first Breeders Classic champion in 1987 -- in hopes of a midnight celebration after the race.
Suggested Pick 5
CT 6th Race: 3, 9
CT 7th race: 4, 8
CT 8th Race: 1, 3, 4
CT 9th Race: 4
CT 10th Race: ALL
Cost for a 50-Cent Ticket: $60
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