Hersh: Del Mar late pick four play for Sunday, Aug. 11, 2019

Decent late pick four on Sunday, Aug. 11, at Del Mar spanning races 5-8. Possible singles for me in races 5, with Indy Jones (#11), and race 7 with Anonymity (#5), but I’ll shell out a few extra bucks for slightly more coverage in both races.

Race 5:
No entrant has hit the $20K maiden-claiming Del Mar Beyer par on dirt and figures aside, it’s that kind of race. Indy Jones (#11) is a 10-race maiden but nine of those races came on turf and for at least 2.5 times this claiming price, and eight of them were around two turns. Dropped to this level and switched to dirt, he was a very solid third of nine over the surface and my guess would be the cutback from a two-turn mile to this one-turn seven furlongs is a plus. The only horse that seems a little tougher to read and with possible upside is Fort York (#7), who is back from a long layoff, in a new barn on a new circuit, adding Lasix and racing as a first-time gelding, and dropping in class for his second start.

Race 6:
If you have a strong opinion in this optional claiming 3-year-old turf mile you’re a lot sharper than I. Spreading to include anyone I see as plausible.

Race 7:
Anonymity (#5) is pretty good and the most likely winner but not quite short-priced-single good enough. She’s supposed to improve second time back from a long break, but there’s always the chance all the things that have limited this horse’s starts at age 5 crop up again. Danuska’s My Girl (#9) is well drawn to deploy the pace, likes DMR, didn’t run her best last time, and has room to come back forward.

Race 8:
Fairly comfortable one of the three inside-drawn 2-year-old fillies will get it done in the nightcap, a one-mile turf maiden.

50-cent pick four play – total cost $36

Race 5: 7,11
Race 6: 1,4,6,7,8,9
Race 7: 5,9
Race 8: 1,2,3