How to bet Aqueduct's Friday Pick 4 - March 9, 2012
Here's my race-by-race rundown of Friday's pick four at Aqueduct on March 9, 2012. I'm building my wager with TicketMaker, found exclusively on DRF.com.
Race 6 (maiden claiming)
Been waiting for ALI’S WINNER (#2) to put it all together since impossible trip first time on the inner back on December 1st. Perhaps the drop in class along the addition of blinkers will finally do it. SUSPICIOUS U (#4) and FR. PETER’S MISSAL (#8) finished a neck apart in 3rd and 4th on Feb. 18, a race in which neither of them got the best of trips. Will take them over PARACHUTE CONEY (#3) and STAGE DEBUT (#7), who will be short prices on the drop, but haven’t done anything on the track to get me interested.
Race 7 (claiming)
MILL BRANCH MILLIE (#3) was a convincing winner for $50,000 tag in the mud back in October, and now gets significant class relief here off short layoff while also turning back in distance. HURRICANE CAROLINE (#2) has been her own worst enemy so far, lugging in badly and making it difficult for Junior Alvarado to ride her out, but she also drops down here after facing tougher directly off maiden win in which she was a much more clear-cut winner than the margin suggests. Trainer John Parisella doesn’t have great numbers off the claim, but SUPSA (#6) fits well here on the rise and may land a nice outside stalking trip.
Race 8 (conditioned claiming)
Trainer Chris Englehart has JUDICIAL LEADER (#6) seeing dead-red right now, and she’ll step into an open allowance race (although admittedly not a strong one) looking for sixth straight win after crushing short field of starter-handicappers two weeks ago. She’s the horse to beat, but I’m going to stand against her with NATALIE VICTORIA (#1), stretching out on dirt for first time since open lengths maiden win in the slop last fall. She finished very gamely two-back vs. a better field than this one, and was up against it last time in paceless sprint that was dominated on the front end.
Race 9 (claiming)
Plenty of speed involved here, which may finally allow SYSTEM RESTORE (#10) to sit back and make one run, as he prefers. Drop down to $7,500 may help, as well. POWER KING (#3) looms the horse to beat turning back from solid efforts going long, and he has been effective sprinting in the past. BRUNELLI (#9) benefitted from a perfect trip last time, but he also confirmed that he is a better horse sprinting on dirt and may get a similar trip here. Of the speeds, taking ZONE BREAKER (#4) over both KHAN OF KHANS (#7) and VALUE ADDED TAX (#8), as the latter two would be returning on short rest, and both feel like they were well meant last Saturday.
My wagers
