Del Mar officials say they talked to “key players” before proposing an overhaul to its pick six this summer. Key or not, those people must not be pick-six players: Those who actually make the bet appear overwhelmingly opposed to the changes.
After 29 years and more than 55,000 race calls, Dan Loiselle will call his final race Sunday at Woodbine.
The early double and some early pick threes present a quandary as race 2 is loaded with firsters, so unless you play the pick three beginning with race 2, where you can see the wagering and see the horses on the track, you’re flying a bit blind. That doesn’t mean they’re not playable, but we’ll look after race 2 for options. These runners can be critical for your in-race and multirace wagers.
Sunday’s $75,000 Green Carpet Stakes is not only the first race of the season on Belterra Park’s new turf course, it’s also the first race on turf for all but one of the nine Ohio-bred 3-year-olds entered in the 1 1/16-mile race.To add to the degree of difficulty for handicappers, six of the colts and geldings are stretching out from sprints, and just one horse has ever won going long.
Trainer Norm McKnight saddles Bold Ambition (#5, ML 7-2) in Friday’s sixth race at Woodbine, a six-furlong maiden special weight race. Since Jan. 1, 2014, McKnight is winning at a 31 percent clip in sprint races, for a return on investment of $2.87.
Much to the excitement of trainer Charlie LoPresti, two-time Horse of the Year Wise Dan had his first day back to galloping Friday when going about six furlongs over the training track at Keeneland.
Trainer Brendan Walsh is among those having a hard time deciphering Sunday’s second-level allowance on turf at Churchill Downs– particularly the form of Indian Maharaja, whom he calls “a nice horse that kind of lost his way over there.”
The six-furlong Open Mind Handicap for New Jersey-bred fillies and mares on Sunday at Monmouth Park looks to be a two-horse race between 4-year-old More Than a Party and 3-year-old Pinkout.
Integrity (#5, ML 5-2) returns in Friday’s third race at Belmont Park, a one-mile optional claimer. It will be his first start since finishing second by 3 1/2 lengths in an optional claimer March 27 at Aqueduct. The first- and third-place finishers from that race came back to win their next starts.
With plenty of speed lined up in a $25,000 claiming race for fillies and mares that will serve as Sunday’s feature at Hastings, it makes sense to look for the winner to come from a stalking position. Hey Didjanotis fits the bill, and considering she is coming off a solid effort in her first start at the meet, she looks like the one to beat in the 6 1/2-furlong sprint that drew seven horses.
