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Favorites dominated Saturday’s California Gold Rush Day card at Santa Anita, winning 8 of 10 races, including all but 1 of the races in the pick 6. We’ll see what kind of prices emerge Sunday as we return to a more overnight-type of racing card. Horseplayers at Xpressbet and 1/ST BET can take part in a $2,000 Late Pick 4 Hit & Split Promotion on the final 4 races each Santa Anita racing day through Memorial Day Monday.
Let’s get to work.
Race 6: maiden special weight
A cast of 8 rookie juveniles match up and you’ll benefit from being able to see the horses pre-race and the tote action for some clues before this pick 4 sequence begins. Among the barns here who have had some success in the baby dashes at Santa Anita include Doug O’Neill (#1 Lease Instead) and Jorge Periban (#6 Stanford Warrior). Favorites are 25-for-51 (49%) in these 2-year-old dashes the past 5-plus years at Santa Anita. Main tickets may be safe with just that aforementioned duo and use your judgement based on additional info between now and post time. If adding depth, go with #2 Is That You Wing off of some promising gate works as well as #8 Prime Listing for a typically quiet Paula Capestro barn that’s posted a 26-1 winner and 5-2 runner-up among its 3 most-recent starters.
Race 7: allowance/optional claiming
Odds-on favorite #2 Matt at Five will be a single for many off of his smashing turf unveiling 14 days ago. Peter Miller took over the training from Carla Gaines just prior and this one finished with more late flair than in 2 prior dirt runner-up efforts to open his career. Miller is 8: 3-3-1 at Santa Anita since 2015 bringing turf sprinters back off a win on 15 days’ rest or less, solid but not dominant, numbers. While there does appear to be other speed in the race, finding a reliable turf finisher is a reach in this spot based on past performances. That best candidate would be #6 Uecker, whose cut back in distance might give him more late ability than he showed in prior sprints.
Race 8: maiden claiming
#5 King of Success (8-1 ML) might be our best shot at a price in the sequence and will be my gutsy single. I love this form cycle moving sprint-to-route and turf-to-dirt while second off the layoff. The class drop won’t hurt either for the Jeff Bonde trainee. The 6-5 morning line favorite #2 Lorenzo Bernini failed at 3-5 last out and has been beaten 3 times in his last 4 starts at 2-1 or less. Even though George Papaprodomou’s barn is going well right now, this is a vulnerable chalk as much as any in the late pick 4.
Race 9: starter allowance
The class drop for #4 Catalina Cocktail puts this mare back at a competitive level from 2 starts ago. But she doesn’t hold any decisive edge. #1 Deep Blue responded first off the claim for Victor Garcia, doing it the hard way from last-to-first turf sprinting. Not sure she’s better around 2 turns based on form and pedigree, but her last move was different from her prior tries and the new outfit may have found something.
The Ticket
8,1,6,2 with 2,6 with 5 with 4,1 = $8 for $.50 play
Potentially use just 8,1 in opening leg and double the units
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