Sunday TimeformUS Highlight Horse: Lead Guitar’s current form makes her the one to beat in Autumn Days

Aqueduct | Race 7 | Post Time 2:44 p.m. (ET) | Go to the TimeformUS PPs | Not already a TimeformUS member? Sign up

Lead Guitar (#9) is clearly the horse to beat as she seeks her fourth victory in a row. This filly struggled to muster the same brilliance she had shown early in her career when in Eddie Kenneally's barn this summer. Yet that all changed when she was transferred back to George Weaver this fall. All of her starts for the Weaver barn have been excellent, and she’s looked like her old self in those last two performances since the trainer switch. She benefited from a favorable pace setup when she dominated Madeleine Must two back, but she showed that was no fluke last time when rallying to victory over a few of today’s rivals in the Floral Park. She’s the fastest horse in the race, and is versatile enough to work out the right trip. I’m not trying to beat her, and will mostly focus on keying horses underneath her in exotics.

One of those would be My Sassy Sarah (#11) if she gets into this race. She’s stuck on the also-eligible list after splitting the field in the Floral Park last time. However, she ran much better than her result would indicate, as she completely blew the start, leaving the gate about 5 lengths behind the field. She had been in solid form sprinting prior to that and I think she could get back on track here if given a chance to compete.

I would also use Risky Mischief (#3) as she steps up in class. This New York-bred has been facing weaker company recently, but she’s significantly improved since the switch to turf and looks ready to tackle a tougher assignment.

THE PLAY

Win: 9

Exacta Key Box: 9 with 3,11

Trifecta: 9 with 3,5,11 with 3,5,8,10,11