Santa Anita opens its racing week Friday with a $94,783 carryover in the traditional $2 pick 6. The sequence begins in Race 4 of 9 at approximately 5:34 pm ET. Let’s take a look at each leg.
Race 4: 2YO maiden special weight dirt sprint
Must Use: 2 Light One Up
Consider: 1 La Ville Lumiere, 6 Velvet Dream, 4 Fire Ile
Trainer Doug O’Neill hits 31% with May juveniles at Santa Anita over the past decade and is 24-45 in the exacta with such. His Light One Up worked well from the gate inside on video and should be ready-made. Slight edge over La Ville Lumiere, an expensive, sharp worker for Michael McCarthy, who rarely has early 2YOs like this in California with no success yet.
Race 5: NorCal-restricted allowance turf sprint
Must Use: 1 Zeus’ War
Consider: none
Big class edge here for Zeus’ War, whose NorCal experience includes the Pleanton Mile and Oakland Stakes, premier races on the former circuit. Local turf sprint form eliminates many of the question marks others possess.
Race 6: claiming dirt mile
Must Use: 2 Super Max, 7 Asmodeus
Consider: 4 Be Punctual, 6 Mici’s Express, 5 Damazio
Decent-enough options to consider 5-deep with bigger budgets, but give me a speed and a closer to get through this affair. Supermax rallied nicely to win last out at 20-1 and is 10-1 in the morning line for a John Sadler barn going very well right now while other ‘name’ brands in this race have been struggling locally of late. Among the early speeds, Asmodeus overcame a terrible post 10 last time and delivered on the Kentucky export’s first local bid. Only win of meet for Peter Miller so far, a good sign for the horse at least.
Race 7: Cal-bred turf sprint allowance
Must Use: 2 Tight Squeeze, 5 Rosa Parks, 7 Guiltyofhavingfun
Consider: none
Lava Lucy will try to clear fast from the outside, but will be stretched too thin going 6-1/2 furlongs and give those first-over pressers Rosa Parks and Guilftyofhavingfun a great shot at inheriting the lead and control late. Tight Squeeze came out of a cannon late in her debut and will have to work out a trip from the inside while capable. Good options.
Race 8: maiden claiming dirt sprint
Must Use: 4 Petite Ange, 8 Babe Kelso
Consider: none
Frankly, it’s a terrible bunch, and Petite Ange likely found a friendly enough group to graduate in her 15th start. Her dirt sprints actually are standouts vs. these unless rookie Babe Kelso has some game. Home-bred is out of a highly productive mare, but weak human connections statistically likely won’t attract much money. Won’t argue if you opt to single Petite Ange vs. doubling the cost of the ticket.
Race 9: claiming turf mile
Must Use: 9 Empress Ellie, 1 Big Mama Sue, 2 Super Ellie
Consider: none
Not much separates the trio here, including the likely shorter prices on all three, unfortunately. Empress Ellie is top choice off those autumn tries at this $25,000 claiming level at Del Mar and Santa Anita. Big Mama Sue failed at 1-to-2 odds last time vs. several of these in a common April 18 race after some early trouble. Fits back with a better trip and better price than last time. Super Ellie gets back to a realistic level second-off-the-claim for shrewd Mark Glatt barn. They took a bigger shot and didn’t stack up and now find more comfortable foes.
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