Bulletproof One provides single for Golden Gate's late pick 4

Unfortunately, the late pick four on Friday at Golden Gate Fields is likely to end with a bulletproof favorite.

A filly named Bulletproof One figures to be odds-on to win race 8, the card’s nightcap and the cashing leg of the pick four spanning races 5 through 8. Multi-race players who don’t mind singling a short price might have their anchor, but those more inclined to dredge a sequence for value will find an imposing impediment in this Tapeta Footings sprint.

Bulletproof One hails from the high-powered barn of Southern California-based trainer Peter Miller and is one of two Golden Gate winners Miller has notched from just five runners at the meet. She won a race March 5 at this very class and distance – a first-level allowance with a $50,000 claiming option restricted to 3-year-old fillies at 5 ½-furlongs – and gets to run back in the same race because of a provision in the conditions that permits California-breds to keep their open first-level allowance eligibility even after a win at the condition. Bulletproof One went to the front and cruised to the easiest kind of win last out, backing up her one previous synthetic-surface performance, an eight-length debut blowout over the Golden Gate surface about 10 months ago. Pentawan, an English import who won her North American debut March 14 at Golden Gate, is Bulletproof One’s only rival with enough upside to use as a pick four backup.

Jonathan Wong, Golden Gate’s runaway leading trainer with 52 wins through last week’s racing, is two-handed in race 7, a Tapeta sprint restricted to 3-year-olds and open to $50,000 claimers or $50,000 starter-allowance horses who haven’t won two races. Ladies Luv Munny, the shorter price of the pair, finished third after setting the pace at his class level when last seen racing two months ago. She’s one of two main early-speed players along with rail-drawn On Purpose, and while both front-runners merit consideration, Wong’s second entrant Friend of Autism could surprise at a better price. Friend of Autism was cut back to a sprint from routes last out and finished well for a close fourth, and is partnered with jockey Juan Hernandez, a 28-time winner in his last 61 mounts for Wong. Draw Me will find her way onto plenty of tickets but comes off the two best races of her life and easily could regress.

Bettors could spread more in races 5 and 6. Race 6 is for $20,000 maiden claimers over one mile on Tapeta, and only two of the seven entrants have raced beyond a sprint. Cast as wide a net as possible but this handicapper leans toward second-time starter Sweet Sarah Bear.

Waverly Way figures to be favored in race 5, a $4,000 non-winners-of-two claimer, but all six of these horses have at some point in their career run fast enough to win.