King: Taking a shot at pick five using just 10 total horses

Horseplayers know that the best way to encourage racetracks to lower takeout is to support those that embrace that concept. So, this handicapper is stepping up and supporting a track doing just that.

Sam Houston offers a 12 percent takeout on daily doubles, pick threes, pick fours, and even the pick five, per data posted on the horseplayersassociation.org website. And there is no better time to play Sam Houston than Saturday, when the track has four stakes as part of its nighttime card.

So, let’s get to it, looking at the four stakes that begin on race 6, plus the nightcap, a competitive $5,000 claimer that ends the pick five sequence.

Race 6, Star of Texas Stakes

Texas Air (6) won this race last year and is a proven top-level performer in Texas-bred races on the main track. And though he went just 1 for 9 last year, only two of those races were in statebred company.

Some might be a bit concerned that he has not raced since September, but that last stakes race for older Texas-bred routers was on turf in October, and turf is not a surface on which Texas Air excels.

He has been waiting for this race and rates as a top ‘A’ play using the system in Formulator’s Ticketmaker program.

A backup ‘B’ play is Ring Necked (5), who is returned to his best surface, dirt, after finishing last of 10 in the Texas Hall of Fame Stakes on Retama Park’s grass Oct. 18.

He finished less than two lengths behind Texas Air when they raced in the slop at Retama in late September.

Race 7, Spirit of Texas Stakes

The 15-time winner Solar Charge (5), who moves from turf to dirt after a close third at Fair Grounds behind the much classier Gantry and Unbridled’s Song, rates on top in this six-furlong sprint for Texas-breds.

He should hold his form, if not improve, on dirt, having recorded 13 of his victories on it. Among those victories was a score in the Premiere Stakes at Lone Star, the last time he sprinted against Texas-breds. Solar Charge is an ‘A’ play.

A secondary ‘B’ horse is Wagson (2), who races off the claim for winning trainer Karl Broberg after winning an open $25,000 claimer at Fair Grounds on Dec. 21. He offers more value than the top choice, at 6-1 on the morning line, double that of Solar Charge.

Race 8, Groovy Stakes

Two horses, both from the Bret Calhoun barn, go down as ‘A’ runners in the Groovy, a six-furlong dash for 3-year-old Texas-bred males.

Those two runners, Supermason (8) and Silverhill (9), are difficult to separate. Both are accomplished sprinters and are capable of running Beyer Speed Figures in the upper 70s or low 80s.

Supermason is the speedier of the two, Silverhill the more consistent.

Race 9, Richard King Stakes

Again, two ‘A’ plays in this leg, this time using Rule Breaker (1), a stalker with good recent form who should sit a good inside trip, and Magna Breeze (9), a speedy, consistent turf runner who won the Texas Hall of Fame Stakes on turf the last time these types raced in a stakes.

The favored Magna Breeze is the more likely of the two to win if he can avoid dueling with Special U F O, the only other speed horse in the race, but Rule Breaker offers greater value. He is 12-1 on the morning line but more likely to go off at half that price.

Race 10, $5,000 claiming

Darkness Love (9) comes off a third-place finish at Fair Grounds for this same claiming tag Dec. 31 and may have a fitness edge over many of his rivals, most of whom haven’t raced since November.

Triple Double (4), like Darkness Love, rates as an ‘A’ play. He consistently posts Beyers in the 70s on the main track. Unraced since November, he typically fires fresh.

The tickets

Plugging the horses noted above into the Ticketmaker program results in the following combinations using a minimum wager of $1 and a budget of $64.