King: Oaklawn Park pick four for Saturday, March 19

With two stakes, the Razorback Handicap and Rebel, falling in the late pick four Saturday at Oaklawn, that wager looks like one of the more potentially rewarding bets of the day. So, let’s take a look at the sequence and put together a DRF TicketMaker play, with the capitalized horses ranked either as ‘A’ or ‘B’ runners based on their chances of winning.

Race 8, The Razorback

Having a recent start, 6-1 SHOTGUN COWBOY (4) is my value-based choice to upset the classy UPSTART (7), who is unraced since a fifth in the Pennsylvania Derby on Sept. 19. Both go down as ‘A’ plays, though obviously a win by the former would increase the payoff potential more than the latter, who is the morning-line favorite.

CARVE (4) is similar to SHOTGUN COWBOY in that he is a move-forward candidate in his second start of the year. CARVE, a ‘B’ horse, ran well at Oaklawn last year, winning the Fifth Season and finishing second in the Oaklawn Handicap.

Race 9

A deep, competitive field makes this race a challenging one to handicap, as there seems to be little separating the leading contenders. Ultimately, I settled on two ‘A’ horses in KISS (7) and BOX OFFICE APPEAL (10), two off-the-claim runners who are accustomed to winning. They consistently perform well at Oaklawn.

Backing them up as a ‘B’ horse is BATTLE TALE (2), who ran a nonthreatening fourth off the bench in his first start of the meet but should perform better in a race with seemingly an abundance of speed.

Race 10, The Rebel

I fall in the believer camp with Southwest Stakes winner SUDDENBREAKINGNEWS (12), who jumped way up in his latest with a furious finish, and I also respect CUPID (4), who is training well for trainer Bob Baffert after a sharp maiden victory at Santa Anita on Feb. 7.

SIDING SPRING (6) and WHITMORE (10) are intriguing to a lesser extent, with the former having set a fast pace before fading to fifth and the latter running second to SUDDENBREAKINGNEWS. They are ‘B’ horses.

Race 11

The sequence ends with a straight maiden race in the nightcap – a race AMERICAN PIONEER (5) should win. Second to next-out winner Dazzling Gem when debuting Jan. 18, he looks cut out to be a good one. This maiden heat is above average, but I’m inclined to single him.

The tickets

Inserting the above-mentioned horses into TicketMaker, for $33, an all ‘A’ ticket can be played for $1.50, any combination of three ‘A’ horses and a ‘B’ for $1, and two ‘A’ horses and two ‘B’ runners for $0.50.

:: See Byron King's pick four in DRF TicketMaker and bet it with DRF Bets.