How to bet Aqueduct's Saturday Pick 4 - Feb. 11, 2012
Here's my race-by-race rundown of Saturday's pick four at Aqueduct. I'm building my wager with TicketMaker, found exclusively on DRF.com.
Race 7 ($50,000 maiden special weight)
Some interesting first time starters in this field, but not necessarily for barns that crank them up, so will stand against them with more experienced rivals. (#9) SMARTY JULIPS showed some early speed in open company debut, then midmoved after odds on Panthro two back after bumping at the break. Unfortunate last time to run into good looking firster The Lumber Guy (90 Beyer), but was clearly 2nd best. (#11) QUIET EYES has had trouble at the break of both starts, but showed some interest both times as well and now gets blinkers. (#1) READTHEBYLINE shows top Beyer in the field for runnerup effort last time, and seems to be improving.
Race 8 ($28,000 claiming race)
Assuming the field stays intact, and is run the way it looks like it has to be on paper, something has to give in this $7500 claimer that is absolutely loaded with front end speed; Adam Rides Again, The Zipster, Hardshell, and Have You Ever are all speed types, and figure to have almost no chance to avoid each other early, which should set things up for (#6) CONSTABULARY to come running late to close it down. Hard to fully trust that horse as a stand-alone, though, so will also use both (#10) BINDLE STICK and (#11) JITALIAN (Also Eligible), as they were in a similarly fast-paced event on Nov 30, and raced on well despite neither one of them having the best of trips.
Race 9 ($75,000 The Sweet Envoy)
(#1) SWAG DADDY has won back-to-back NYBred stakes on the stretch-out, and scratched from last Saturday’s Grade 3 Withers to stay with fellow state-breds once again. Will rematch with (#7) PRETENSION here, and that horse proved a handful in the Damon Runyon, and did so with the tougher trip. (#4) SPORTSWRITER began his career on turf, and found some tough spots on that surface, but really improved first of the trainer change to Rudy Rodriguez. Dangerous if he handles the distance on main track.
Race 10 ($29,000 maiden claiming race)
Wouldn’t be surprised by anyone in this field where competitive form is hard to come by, so will look to spread out to get some coverage. (#5) SHE’S A LISTENER goes for low-percentage barn, but was wide against strong inside track in debut and showed some stretch interest. (#7) SONATA RIVER adds blinkers and trainer has strong numbers with horses making second career start in maiden claiming company (Past Year Years: 5-for-10, with 8 hitting the board). (#1) CINNAMON STICK, (#2) FLY CAT, and (#3) INSTANT FLASH all drop in class, and the latter two also turn back in distance, which is enough to get them included. Trainer Ralph D’Alessandro only winner this meet was Frisky Warrior, who debuted on January 13 in a NYBred $16k maiden claimer, and paid $101.50 to win, so we’ll also use (#9) TATTOOED BY RICK.
My wagers
With TicketMaker I'm able to put greater emphasis on my "A" selections while still having coverage with my "B" and "C" picks just in case. This allows me to maximize my budget for this pick four.
