Bernier: How I'll play Turfway Park on Saturday, April 2

Saturday is the signature day of the Turfway Park meeting, highlighted by the Grade 3 Spiral Stakes, a race that will award 50 Kentucky Derby qualifying points to the winner. Dan Illman and I already have previewed the pick four (available on drf.com/videos) consisting of races 7-10, but here I’ll break down the final three races of that sequence.

RACE 8

The Rushaway Stakes for 3-year-olds features a full field, but I think the race goes through two horses. GIMLET (1) goes out for Todd Pletcher, and that alone means he’s very likely to be an underlay in this spot. The versatility he’s shown during his three starts should allow Florent Geroux to place this son of Lemon Drop Kid wherever he sees fit. SCHOLAR ATHLETE (4) is a horse I’ve chased a bit over his past two starts, and he exits a reasonably solid race (the Palm Beach Stakes). Each of these runners figures to be much too short a price to play on their own, so I’ll look to hook them up with a filly in the Bourbonette Oaks in doubles.

RACE 9

ARTESIAN (7) is simply too slow from a Beyer Speed Figure standpoint, but it’s not as though the Bourbonette Oaks features any superstars. This Artie Schiller filly will be making her 3-year-old debut for trainer Frances McNeely, and thus far, Artesian hasn’t done anything wrong on the racetrack. Already proven on a synthetic surface, Artesian should work out a solid trip after breaking from the middle of the gate.

I’ll look to play doubles linking races 8 and 9 as follows: 1) GIMLET, 4) SCHOLAR ATHLETE with 7) ARTESIAN

RACE 10

The Spiral Stakes features a full field that is tough to separate from a handicapping standpoint; however, I do think RALIS (11) will run his best race since winning the Grade 1 Hopeful at Saratoga last September. This son of Square Eddie ran better than it looks on paper two weeks ago in the Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn, and he’ll be facing a considerably softer field here. I’ll look to key him in trifectas with the two horses I view as the most likely winners of the race, KASSEOPIA (8) and AIROFORCE (10). Here are the plays:

11 / 8,10 / 8,10
8,10 / 11 / 8,10
8,10 / 8,10 / 11

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