Bernier: How I'll play Del Mar on Sunday, July 23

The talk of the racing world for the next few days will focus on Arrogate’s stunning loss in Saturday’s San Diego Handicap, but let us not forget: there’s plenty of good racing on Sunday’s program at the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club.

Two horses competing in turf races intrigued me from an exotic standpoint. One is in Sunday’s third race - the Wickerr - while the other is in Sunday’s fifth.

RACE 3 – WICKERR
PERFECTLY MAJESTIC (2) may not be the most trustworthy when it comes to win candidates, but he often shows up and puts forth an honest effort. He’s finished off the board only five times from 25 lifetime starts, and he’s never finished out of the money in seven lifetime runs at Del Mar. From an exotic standpoint, Perfectly Majestic may be the perfect candidate to key throughout exactas, trifectas, and superfectas, He projects to get a favorable pace scenario to run at and help produce a solid result in the gimmicks.

RACE 5
WOOD MACHINE (12) is an intriguing entrant in a race that features several runners with prior graded stakes experience. From a speed figure standpoint, Wood Machine may be a bit on the slow side; having said that, he may get a favorable pace setup with a few horses in this spot that do their best work on the front end. This gelding also exits a relatively live race, as two runners have exited that event and returned to win their next starts (with Beyers of 88 and 88). It will be up to Gary Stevens to work out a trip breaking from post 12, but there’s a real chance this son of Curlin could spice up your exotics at a square number.