King: Del Mar pick three play for Thursday, July 24

When a fifth-race pick three kicks off at Del Mar, many horseplayers will be singling Lakota Road (#7). One can understand the reasoning – she already has won a starter allowance, she consistently runs the highest Beyer Speed Figures, and she enters this race in sharp form.

She will be on my tickets, too, but I just can’t feel confident keying her given that her last two routes resulted in losses as the favorite. Her strongest races, her last two, came going shorter when racing down the hill at 6 1/2 furlongs at Santa Anita.

Using the ABC system utilized in DRF’S Ticketmaker, she is an “A” play, but two lesser “Bs” also go on the tickets as insurance: Coconut Cream Pie (#1) and Hanserella (#6) .

If one of them upset, it will eliminate a lot of singled tickets and inflate the pick three payoffs.

RACE 6

Class droppers Counting Days (#9) and Perfect Set (#5) are the “A” choices in the sixth, a $16,000 nonwinners-of-two claimer, with both having kept much better company.

[Build your pick three ticket with DRF TicketMaker]

China Girl Lover (#6) rates as a “B” following a runner-up finish on dirt against similar after previously racing on turf and synthetics in straight maiden and allowance races.

RACE 7

In a race in which many of the favorites are returning from layoffs, Tiz Point (#3) has remained active in recent months and now encouragingly joins the barn of trainer Jerry Hollendorfer off a claim. This horse also is a skilled synthetic performer, making him an “A” play.

Beyond him, I will use three “Bs” with class droppers Anillo (#4), Roman Threat (#9), and Rauschenberg (#10).