Some large fields, and a possible single, make pick five playable

A couple of longshot winners in the Sunday sequence led to a $26,568 carryover in the pick five on Wednesday at Tampa Bay Downs.

The sequence, with a minimum wager of 50 cents, begins with race 5 (2:30 p.m. Eastern) and includes three turf races with oversubscribed fields.

Here’s a look at the sequence:

Race 5: An overflow field of 3-year-old fields is entered in this maiden $32,000 claimer scheduled for a mile on turf.

Players may opt to put their faith in the Jamie Ness-trained Ehsaan, a gelding by Into Mischief who ran fourth in maiden special weight dirt race on Christmas Eve. Ehsaan is out of a four-time stakes-winning dirt sprinting mare who has produced one turf winner. He gets Lasix for the first time.

Purple Aura ran well twice on turf at Horseshoe Indianapolis and does get the meet’s leading rider, Samy Camacho.

For deeper pockets, firsters Gray Mirage and Life Is Precious are intriguing. Gray Mirage does not have much turf pedigree, but his trainer, Dennis Manning, struck with a pair of firsters here last spring.

Life Is Precious, by World of Trouble, is a half-sister to three turf winners. Trainer Kerri Raven has won with two of her last four starters at meet.

Race 6: Chem Major is 3 for 4 at Tampa and may be the main speed in this $10,000 claimer going a mile and 40 yards on dirt.

Chem Major, trained by Victor Carrasco Jr., was a front-running winner of an $8,000 claimer when stretched out to this distance first time on Nov. 25. Most recently, she faded to third when engaged in a pace duel in the slop.

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Kaeko ships over from Gulfstream for trainer Jose D’Angelo, who has recorded six of his eight winners at this meet with horses who made their previous start at Gulfstream. She drops in class and stretches out in distance.

Race 7: Kathleen O’Connell has gone 10 for 24 over the last seven cards at Tampa, so we won’t be leaving She Fled the Scene off any tickets, despite her 5-for-49 record. One thing in this 8-year-old mare’s favor is she has won at 1 3/8 miles over this course, albeit 22 months ago. None of the other members of this field has won as far as the 1 1/8-mile distance of this race.

Saffie Joseph Jr. is 2-2-0 from four starters at this meet. He sends French Franc in from Gulfstream while removing blinkers and taking a class drop.

Perfectly Golden, the 2-1 morning-line favorite, takes a suspicious class drop going third off the claim for trainer Gregg Sacco but should be on tickets.

Deeper pockets may include Cloud Storage, who goes first time off the trainer switch to D’Angelo coming off a win over synthetic at Woodbine.

Race 8: Proverb looks like a potential single for Joseph in this starter allowance/optional $12,500 claimer going a mile and 40 yards on dirt.

Proverb, an 8-year-old son of Flatter, has won 3 of 5 since being claimed and is coming off a narrow loss in a similar condition as this at Fair Grounds, his first start off a six-month layoff.

The main rival is Passage of Lines, who just won this condition, albeit in the slop, on Dec. 16 for Jamie Ness.

Race 9: A seemingly wide-open allowance/optional-claiming feature going a mile on turf ends the card and the sequence.

Space Runner just won at this condition going 1 1/16 miles on Dec. 13, so naturally he’s live for D’Angelo, though he’ll have to deal with post 9.

Happy Runner was a two-length winner of the first-level allowance condition here Dec. 1 and is saddled with post 10.

Five of these runners come out of this same condition on Dec. 9, won handily by April Fools Andy.

Fatima’s Blessing rallied from last to just miss second by a neck. The last time this gelding ran a flat mile, he won a New York-bred allowance at Belmont. He needs pace, but could get it in this large field.

Magical Marriage was only a neck behind Fatima’s Blessing when getting a good, ground-saving trip behind the pace. He may appreciate the shorter trip here.

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