King: Despite low price, Valid has appeal in Hal's Hope

Gulfstream Park and Santa Anita have the best winter racing in the country, though that superiority is even more pronounced than usual this Saturday. The two tracks are the only ones with graded stakes Saturday, with Gulfstream running three and Santa Anita two.

Although I typically prefer large fields as a horseplayer, the most appealing wager to me among these five stakes comes with a short cast of six in the Grade 3 Hal’s Hope at Gulfstream, where I like the hard-knocking Valid. He won’t be a fat price since only three horses figure to draw a large share of support, but I’m hopeful that he will be an acceptable price at 5-2 or so, with Cigar Mile droppers Matrooh and Mshawish being the morning-line favorites.

Valid has proven particularly effective at Gulfstream Park, where he has six wins, two seconds, and a third from 11 starts. He also ran a career-best 111 Beyer Speed Figure over the Gulfstream strip, although figures in the low 100s are his norm.

Beyond his affinity for Gulfstream Park, the one-mile Hal’s Hope sets up for him. There is only one other speed horse, Mr. Jordan, and drawn outside of that runner, he should be placed in a favorable outside, pressing position off a modest pace. From that position, he might have a tactical advantage over Matrooh and Mshawish, who figure to rally from farther back.

I imagine some horseplayers won’t like that Javier Castellano rides Mshawish and not Valid, but it doesn’t bother me. Luis Saez, his replacement, is riding well at the meet and is 2 for 3 in 2015-16 aboard horses for Valid’s trainer, Marcus Vitali.

Castellano also figured to ride Mshawish, a Grade 1 winner on turf who made more than $1 million last year. It is a mount he understandably wants to keep for trainer Todd Pletcher, one of Castellano’s biggest backers.

Irrespective of Castellano’s departure, Valid likely has the better chance of victory Saturday. Though Mshawish ran competitively to be fourth in the Cigar Mile, he hung late after taking the lead between calls in the stretch.

As for Matrooh, he finished third in the Cigar Mile with the same favorable outside, pressing trip that Valid figures to get in the Hal’s Hope, and now drawn on the fence, he might not get such a trouble-free journey.

Add that all up, and Valid is the play.

Gulfstream: Marshua’s River

Earlier on the Gulfstream card, a competitive group of fillies and mares races 1 1/16 miles in the Grade 3 Marshua’s River, in which I like a price horse in Hope Cross.

A longtime allowance runner, she has improved in recent months to become twice stakes-placed, managing a couple of seconds in the My Charmer and South Beach stakes in Florida.

In the My Charmer, Hope Cross edged the comebacking Sandiva, one of her main rivals in the Marshua’s River, and last time in the South Beach, she closed to lose by only 1 1/4 lengths after running into traffic in early stretch. That allowed the victorious Tuttipaesi, another Marshua’s River foe, to get the jump on her.

Stretched out to her best distance of 1 1/16 miles in the Marshua’s River, Hope Cross has move-up potential with a little better racing luck, though Sandiva, as well as Partisan Politics, garner respect as the established class.

Santa Anita: Sham

Turning to Santa Anita, the Sham is an intriguing race as the first Derby prep out West of the year. The more accomplished 3-year-olds in California are sitting this one out, leaving a competitive group.

Some are untested in stakes, and others give the appearance of being colts who likely prefer turf to dirt, so rather than gamble on such unknown types, my preference is to support I’malreadythere, a versatile, proven router who already has placed in a pair of graded stakes on dirt for trainer Jerry Hollendorfer.

He is not all that fast, with a top Beyer of 76, but he deserves credit for having run that figure twice while facing quality 3-year-olds such as Toews On Ice and Mor Spirit. Others have run only marginally better figures on dirt against lesser competition.