King: Del Mar pick four play for Thursday, Aug. 14

A fairly contentious sequence of races gives blow-up price appeal to the late pick four at Del Mar Thursday, The wager covers races 5-8, and with also-eligibles in three races, horseplayers should take heed on Thursday morning of any scratches.

The play outlined below does not take into account any also-eligibles starting.

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Race 5

In program order, three horses go on my tickets, all as "A" plays: Point Endurance (#3, 5-1), Contessa B (#5, 5-2) and Tiz Zoe Cee (#9, 3-1).

Of the trio, Tiz Zoe Cee is the most likely winner, but not by a large margin. She is drawn in post 9 with a short run to the first turn in this mile race, and is at risk of a wide trip. So the advice is to also use class-dropping Contessa B and Point Endurance, who comes off a runner-up finish at this $16,000 class level.

Race 6

Sweet as a Rose (#6, 3-1) and Freethinker (#7, 7-2) are the logical horses in this maiden turf race, coming off a second- and third-place finish, respectively. And little seems to separate them, with the former having edged the latter by a neck in their one meeting. Both are "A" plays.

The move-up candidate is Penny Sixpence (#2, 5-2), who gets blinkers off after being too keen in her U.S. bow and fading to sixth. She also benefits from picking up jockey Rafael Bejarano and rates as a "B" play.

Race 7

Let’s go with two "A" runners: Hugh Knew (#2, 7-2) and Fable (#5, 9-2), and use New Nature (#7, 6-1) as a "B" play. All three fit the conditions of this starter allowance.

Fable comes off a win at this level (it was his first win so he remains eligible) and Hugh Knew and New Nature are first-after-claim horses with upside.

Race 8

Last up is a $16,000 nonwinners-of-three claimer in which Zippingaroundtown (#10, 7-2) is the lone "A" runner, followed by a pair of "B" horses in Cuneo (#8, 9-2) and Southern Sunrise (#9, 12-1).

Although Southern Sunrise’s last race was awful – a ninth-place finish over this track – his overall record is solid and he has run some fast races on occasion. At 12-1 he has the potential to light up the exotic payoffs if he connects.

The tickets

Plugging the horses outlined above into Ticketmaker with a base wager of 50 cents results in an all-"A" play in $1.50 denominations; play of "A"s and one "B" in $1 denominations; and a bet of two "A"s and two "B"s in 50-cent combinations. Collective ticket cost is $67.50.