King: Pick four play at Gulfstream for Sunday, Dec. 27

A competitive sequence of deep races late on the Sunday card at Gulfstream Park makes for the potential for a nice payoff in the late pick four. So let’s take a swing at it.

Race 7

A five-furlong maiden claimer on grass, this is a challenging race because most in the field have not run on turf, and of those that have, few have performed at a high level. The lone ‘A,’ or high-percentage play in the race is I’M NO SECRET (10), whose two turf races to date have been useful – a close third and a fifth against straight maidens. Now he is in with maiden $35,000 stock and can be excused for a poor performance last out in an off-the-turf race. Still, as badly as he ran last out – losing by 41 lengths – and not having sprinted yet on grass, let’s use a couple others as backup ‘B’ runners in FAIRYTALE FINISH (11) and ZULU TANGO (4). Fairytale Finish has move-up potential in his second start, and Zulu Tango looks similar to I’m No Secret in that he is dropping in class and returning to his best surface on turf after a poor recent dirt effort.

Race 8

$6,250 claimers are up next in the eighth, a race in which I like a pair of prices in GO DUKE GO (9) and PACHANGA PARTY (7). Both are in excess of 10-1 on the morning line, with Go Duke Go offering class and Pachanga Party having sharp current form.

KEYED CACHE (12) is another live longshot at 15-1 worth using as a ‘B’ runner. His relative lack of early speed makes him a less probable winner than the top two, however.

Race 9

Again, the strategy is two ‘A’ runners and a ‘B’ – with SAWYER (1), a last-out winner at this class level being one of the two ‘A’ runners, and the other ‘A’ being New York shipper SEA COAST (7).

The one ‘B’ horse is ALJALELA (4), who ran third behind Sawyer most recently, though with a wide trip. She has been in the top three in all five of her races.

Race 10

The last is a head scratcher, a five-furlong turf test in which a number of the horses are first timers or inexperienced runners. I’m going to go with two ‘As’ - SMARTY AGREE (8) and THECIA (3) - and FIRST SALUTE (10) as a ‘B.’

Some of the first timers in here have shown promise in their morning works, but they have little margin for error in a race that figures to be timed in less than a minute.

Plugging the horses into DRF’S Ticketmaker program, using a 50-cent minimum base wager and a $55 budget, yields a ticket of all ‘A’s” for $1.50; three ‘A’s’ and a ‘B’ for $1, and two ‘A’s’ and two ‘B’s’ for 50 cents.

:: See Byron King’s pick four play in DRF TicketMaker and bet it with DRF Bets