Bernier: How I'll play Santa Anita on Saturday, April 29

Saturday's card at Santa Anita is highlighted by the Grade 3 Thunder Road Stakes, and I'm interested in a horse who should be a decent price. I'm not looking to go wild today, as the focus is already on next week (it's the calm before the storm, with the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby happening next weekend). I'll look to play a midcard daily double today on races 6-7.

RACE 6 – CLM $12,500 N2L

There are three horses I'm interested in here, and they happen to be the three outside runners. CARULLI (5) could be the speed of the speed on the stretch-out for Kristen Mulhall, and at this level, if you're capable of making the front, you could prove difficult to run down. If the distance is too much for this gelding, perhaps the likely favorite, UNBRIDLED ROCKET (7), could inherit the lead turning for home. I'm always skeptical of short-priced horses who have shown a penchant for losing (22-1-7-4 lifetime record), but his most recent Beyer Speed Figure makes him strictly the horse to beat. The other runner I'm interested in is WOODSTOCK MEMORY (6) for Antonio Garcia. It took this son of Misremembered 14 starts to finally win his maiden, but he may be a prime candidate to repeat while facing winners for the first time.

RACE 7 - THUNDER ROAD

Pace makes the race, and my old friend SAWYER'S HILL (7) should be as loose as he wants on the front end. Mulhall has done a fantastic job with this gelding, and Martin Pedroza seems to fit him like a glove. If they're able to replicate the trip they worked out in his most recent win, he's going to be difficult to run down. BOLO (3) is very clearly the most likely winner of the race, but on the heels of a dull effort at Keeneland two weeks ago, I'll try to beat him at a very short price.

THE PLAY

DOUBLE: 5,6,7 / 7