Gierkink: How I'd play Gulfstream on Sunday, Jan. 25

I’m focusing on the two pick fours on this challenging 11-race card, which allows me to avoid races 6 and 7, a bottom $6,250 claimer and a two-turn maiden special for 3-year-old fillies on the grass.

Wildcat Gaze, the 3-1 chalk in the second race, merits top billing in the maiden special for Florida-breds, even though she was a beaten favorite in both of her outings. Leading rider Javier Castellano takes over for the live Jane Cibelli barn on the son of Wildcat Heir, who will be a single on my main ticket. My backup play will have Ice Women (7-2) and Descarado (8-1), who is adding blinkers, a move that hasn’t been all that effective with second-timer starters trained by Steve DiMauro.

Race 3 can be pared down to Aces for John (4-1) and Returning Rock (2-1). Tommy No Read, the 5-2 second choice, isn’t much horse, and his trainer is 0 for 11 the first time off the claim since the beginning of 2014.

Race 4 on the grass is a crapshoot. Hitting the “all” button is the way to go in the 7 1/2-furlong test for $20,000 distaffers.

First-timer Royal Ascot Zip (5-1) drew well (post 2) in the fifth, a five-furlong turf dash for $35,000 maidens. Use the Wesley Ward-trained son of the popular City Zip, along with the dropping Little Baltar (3-1) and the European import Winstanley (6-1), who has been working bullets at Palm Beach Downs.

The second pick four begins on race 8, a 6 1/2-furlong maiden special for sophomore fillies. The Todd Pletcher-trained favorites Fast Moon and Fine Instincts have been working quickly. Other first-timers with blue-blooded pedigrees include Spirit (15-1), Regia Marina (15-1), Pin Up (6-1), Delightful Melody (8-1), and Casco Passage (12-1). One should tab the tote for some clues and have a look at the fillies before deciding whom to discard.

Race 9, a five-furlong allowance on the turf, is loaded with speed. I’m going with Coarsegold (10-1), Red Minx (12-1), Tizgale (5-1), Spun Cap (4-1), Tizmetizyou (8-1), and Madame Giry (6-1).

Dancing House, the 5-2 favorite in the 10th, is a key. She’s dropping off a closing third in the Tropical Park Oaks, a quality stakes from which the unplaced Pink Poppy exited to capture the Florida Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Turf with a 90 Beyer. The nicely bred Tapit filly has some speed to chase in this second-level optional claimer on the grass, and Joel Rosario possesses gaudy numbers when riding for trainer Kiaran McLaughlin at Gulfstream.

In the nightcap, a $20,000 conditioned claimer on the lawn, the logical contenders are Dominate (3-1), Loveisheartandsoul (7-2), Caminito (8-1), and Hudson Miracle (5-1). Following a layoff, Hudson Miracle picks up the superb turf rider Jose Lezcano, who has fared quite well for trainer Chad Brown. Lezcano piloted Hudson Miracle to victory twice in the fall of 2013, including in a $16,000 non-winners-of-two claimer here.