McGee: Del Mar pick three play for Saturday, July 21
With races 1 and 5 being just too difficult for me to decipher – which precludes taking a shot at either the early pick five (R1-5) or early pick four (R2-5) – I’ll be trying to leverage a strong opinion on one of those races when mapping out a pick three play. Here’s the strategy:
Race 2: In an N2L-$16k claiming sprint filled with shaky propositions, I’ll single Gringo Star (4), who’s dropping out of a much tougher starter at Santa Anita after being narrowly defeated for a $20k tag. His connections, Alonso Quinonez and Ian Kruljac, aren’t so-called “name brands” but are highly capable nonetheless. I’ll be backing this one with confidence when hoping for something close to the 5-2 morning-line.
Race 3: Purposely working around Horse Greedy, the morning-line favorite who surely will be undervalued when exiting a graded stakes, I’ll cover otherwise with K Thirty Eight (1), Allaboutaction (3), Conqueror (5), and Graycaster (7). Seems worth noting that Horse Greedy ran for $40k just two starts back, and he’ll be cutting back from 7 furlongs while all the rest most recently raced at shorter distances and therefore might out-foot him early.
Race 4: Somewhat reluctantly, I’ll include the heavy favorite, Vasilika (6), whose Hall of Fame trainer, Jerry Hollendorfer got away to a flying start at the meet by winning three races on the Wednesday opener. But assuming the ticket is still alive, I’ll only be using her as a saver while lending a stronger root to potential upsetters Algorhythmic (7) and Shy Carmelita (8).
R2: 4
R3: 1, 3, 5, 7
R4: 6, 7, 8
$1 ticket = $12
