Cold pick three kicks off card

ARCADIA, Calif. – The first three races Friday at Santa Anita could generate one of the lowest pick three payoffs of winter. It is nothing to brag about. But this season, it is almost routine.

When odds-on favorites won races 2-4 on Jan. 18, the $1 pick three returned $2.20, lowest pick three of the meet. The mark is in jeopardy Friday in races 1-3. The pick three sequence includes two apparent standouts and an odds-on favorite in a four-horse field.

It’s exciting to consider the possibility of doubling one’s money if favorites deliver in each leg. It happens often this winter, especially on the main track. Dirt favorites have won 54 percent (55 of 102), a rate likely to tick upward Friday. The first three races are on dirt.

Race-1 favorite Love Our Family returns to her preferred footing and drops into a $16,000 claiming race for fillies and mares at one mile. The veteran ran well one week ago against tougher, finishing fifth on turf. Love Our Family is 0 for 9 on turf, 4 for 13 on dirt.

Gary Stute trains Love Our Family, whose California-bred allowance dirt victory two starts back stamps her the obvious choice. The mare already earned more than double the $16,000 she was claimed for three starts back. Stute’s five-year win rate with chalk is 48 percent (14 for 29).

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Front-runners Professors’ Pride and Smiling Lady give Love Our Family a target to chase, while blinkers-on, surface-switcher Tiergarten is the main threat rallying from off the pace. Love Our Family is listed at 6-5, a price that could drop. Geovanni Franco rides Love Our Family.

Race-2 favorite Uncle Chilly is the 6-5 favorite racing six furlongs against older maiden sprinters bred in California. Uncle Chilly finished second in both recent starts at 6 1/2 furlongs and benefits by the distance cutback Friday. Armando Ayuso rides Uncle Chilly.

Mike Puype trains Uncle Chilly. The 4-year-old enters as the most probable winner on the card. His main rival is first-time gelding, second-time starter Proud Racer, who finished more than six lengths behind Uncle Chilly when they met three months ago.

Race-3 favorite Winds of Freedom drops from California-bred allowance to $25,000 claiming in the sprint for 3-year-olds. Doug O’Neill trains Winds of Freedom, whose main rival Tiz Happy is scratched. Apprentice rider Manuel Americano, fourth-leading rider this winter at Turf Paradise, is named to ride Winds of Freedom, who is listed at 4-5 in the four-horse field.

O’Neill also trains race-9 favorite No Bad Beats, runner-up on dirt two and three starts back. She is the 2-1 choice in the restricted race for 3-year-old maiden fillies. The 6 1/2-furlong race is for maiden fillies who were either sold or “reserve not achieved” at auction for $150,000 or less, or have started for a claim tag, or are entered for the $62,500 optional claiming tag.

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