King: Gulfstream Park pick four for Saturday, Jan. 14

Encouraged by his return to a one-turn mile at Gulfstream Park, Tommy Macho is my key play in the Grade 3 Hal’s Hope on Saturday – a horse around which I will construct some pick-four plays to go for a large payoff. What follows below are the horses I like in the other legs of the sequence, with Tommy Macho being a single in the Hal’s Hope.

Race 9

A five-furlong maiden turf dash, this is a contentious race with no horse showing spectacular form and a number of first-timers present. I will use three primary “A” plays under the DRF TicketMaker system, focusing on Oh So Terrible (4), Raging Town (3), and Objective Complete (2) from that perspective. Plus, I will back them up with a pair of “B” runners: Twotimingdancer (8) and Soulshine (10).

Race 10

Heart to Heart (1) and Night Prowler (2) rate as “A” runners in the Fort Lauderdale, with the former being an ultra-consistent front-runner and the latter in top form for successful grass trainer Chad Brown. The comebacking Divisidero (7) is arguably the best horse in the race, but not having raced since the summer, he is a backup “B” play, as is the layoff-prone but classy Lukes Alley (6).

Race 11

Although the Hal’s Hope seems to be a competitive race at first glance, I see move-up potential for Tommy Macho (2) with the return to racing a mile on the Gulfstream strip – conditions under which he won the Fred Hooper over Stanford last year. My single and obviously an “A.”

Race 12

Last up is a maiden claimer going 1 1/16 miles on the grass, a contest in which Chasing The Dream (10) and Campaigner’s Gold (7) seem best, though not by a large margin. They are the “A” runners, backed up by Fast Fact (6), I’m Majestic (8), and Albert Charles (3).

The Tickets

Plugging the horses mentioned above into TicketMaker, for $84 an all-“A” ticket can be played for $1.50, combinations of three “A” horses and one “B” for $1, and combos of two “A” horses and two “B” runners for $0.50.