Tough double closes out pick six with $71K carryover

ARCADIA, Calif. – Pick-six bettors chasing a $71,438 carryover face tricky questions in the last two legs Thursday at Santa Anita.

Can a turf horse handle dirt, and do sprinters run long? Conquest Farenheit, along with the stretch-outs Big Gray Rocket and Squared Squared, are the principals in race 7, an allowance route with potential Kentucky Derby implications.

Does wet-track form apply to turf, and does pedigree matter? Goodyearforroses and the well-bred Into The Mystic meet in race 8, the Astra II Stakes for turf-marathon fillies and mares.

The questions apply to bettors alive after four legs of the pick six; the total pool is expected to approach $500,000. Factoring carryover, the virtual takeout rate drops to 20 percent from an implied 35 percent (23.68 percent standard takeout minus 15 percent of the net allocated to the single-ticket jackpot). Don’t like the math? There is always the late double on races 7-8.

Race 3 starts the pick six; every obvious contender is suspect in the turf sprint for older California-bred maidens. Heat is a 15-start maiden, Evicted has never sprinted, pacesetter Gosofar has never run on turf, and David’s Memory has not raced in five months.

Race 4 is a $20,000 maiden-claiming sprint with the class-dropping Informality and the reliable Solar Zone, an 11-start maiden who has finished in the money in all five tries at the level.

Race 5, a starter-allowance turf route, includes a potential single. Golden Light ran well in her recent comeback, pressing a fast pace and tiring. She drops in class from a statebred allowance and has decent figures. Rivals include Anita Partner and Tiz Adore.

Race 6 is a $32,000 claiming sprint for fillies and mares. Contenders are Late ’n Left, Basie Boots, Filly On Fire, Little Bit Lovely, Brookes All Mine, and Margie’s Minute.

Santa Anita carded the two best races last. Six entered race 7, an allowance for 3-year-olds that is the local debut for the Grade 2-placed Conquest Farenheit. The runner-up in the Summer Stakes last fall at Woodbine, Conquest Farenheit was purchased for $735,000 from a dispersal sale and transferred to Santa Anita meet-leading trainer Peter Miller.

Miller said that although the son of Scat Daddy made his first two starts on turf, he handles dirt in workouts at San Luis Rey Downs.

“He trains super on dirt,” Miller said. “We’ve worked him behind horses to get dirt in his face, and it doesn’t seem to bother him. We knew we could put him on grass and be 3-5 in an allowance race. We didn’t know what that would show us.

“If he can’t beat these or at least be right there, then we’re going to have to scrap it and figure he’s a grass horse,” Miller said, adding that a good effort “opens up everything.”

Conquest Farenheit’s runner-up finish in the Summer Stakes was validated. The winner, Good Samaritan, returned to finish third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, and third-place Channel Maker ran seventh in the BC. Tiz a Slam, fourth in the Summer, won a stakes at Woodbine; the Summer’s last-place finisher won a maiden-claiming race.

Big Gray Rocket, trained by Bob Baffert, romped second out in a maiden race at Del Mar in September and then finished fourth in the Grade 1 Champagne at Belmont. The one-mile race Thursday is Big Gray Rocket’s first in four months and his first around two turns.

Squared Squared, the likely third betting choice Thursday, has overlay appeal. He was claimed from Miller by John Sadler for $62,500 from his sprint debut. Despite the ninth-place finish, Sadler is convinced it was a good claim.

“After I trained him a little it, I said, ‘He looks like a route horse,’ ” Sadler said. Sadler ran Squared Squared back in a $75,000 maiden-claiming sprint that he won and looks forward to stretching out the son of Bellamy Road.

“He won short, but I think he’s going to be better going long,” he said. “He trains really nice, he trains like a good horse. He always kicks home. We’ll see where his upside is.”

The starters in race 7 also include Popular Kid, Interrogator, and Sorry Erik.

Race 8 is the Astra II, a 1 1/2-mile turf marathon originally scheduled for Jan. 15. The $75,000 stakes race was postponed due to a saturated course. The turf has dried; the Astra will be run Thursday on firm ground.

Goodyearforroses splashed her way to victory in an off-the-turf stakes Dec. 31 on a sloppy track. It was her first start in California; trainer Richard Baltas believes she could improve while switching surfaces.

“I think she’s a grass horse,” Baltas said. “She doesn’t really look like a dirt horse. She’s kind of a lighter-made horse.”

The well-bred Into The Mystic, third last out in the Grade 3 Megahertz at one mile, stretches out to a marathon for the first time. “I think she’ll get a mile and a half,” trainer Richard Mandella said. “With her breeding, to win a stakes would be really nice.”

Into The Mystic is sired by Galileo and was produced by a top-class European mare. Tamazirte won Group 2 and 3 races in France in 2009 and placed in successive Group 1s.

The Astra II field includes Ryans Charm, fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf, and Queen Blossom, ninth in the American Oaks.