Watchmaker: Pimlico all-stakes pick four for Friday, May 20
The all-stakes pick four sequence Friday at Pimlico that begins in race 8 and concludes with the Black-Eyed Susan is a nice one. Let’s go after it.
Race 8, Jim McKay Turf Sprint
Rocket Heat, the front-running winner of the Turf Sprint on the Kentucky Oaks undercard two weeks ago, very much has the look of a “missed the wedding, why go to the wake?” horse as he was 8-1 at Churchill and will be less than one-third of that price this time. Moreover, he has speed rivals breaking from the stalls immediately to his left and right. But Rocket Heat is still a must-use because he might well be the speed of the speed, and the 105 Beyer Speed Figure he earned for his Turf Sprint score dwarfs anything that any of his rivals, save for Ben’s Cat, have ever done.
I’m also using Ben’s Cat as an “A” and Night Officer as a backup. If Rocket Heat does get hooked early, this race might come back to Ben’s Cat, who won his recent 10-year-old bow. Night Officer does not want to win, but he can also close, and he is reunited with Joel Rosario, for whom he ran well two starts back.
Race 9, the Allaire duPont Distaff
Tiger Ride is the most intriguing horse in this sequence. Tiger Ride is going from turf to dirt Friday, and the last two times she made this surface switch, she won stakes. Granted, those stakes were off-the-turf races, but her rallying second on dirt two back in the Inside Information Stakes in her seasonal debut against a speed-biased track says she’s as effective on dirt as she is on turf.
Still, I’ll include one other main and two backups. Savings Account, who is in sharp form and projects to sit a nice stalking trip, is my other main. My backups are Mei Ling and Engaginglee. Mei Ling rode the crest of a profound inside bias when she won the Heavenly Prize two starts back but still must be respected because of her early speed. Engaginglee has sneakily achieved career-best form and was compromised by the same speed bias as Tiger Ride when third in the Inside Information two back.
Race 10, the Hilltop
Spinamiss looks very strong here off good efforts in Grade 3 stakes in her last two outings – she was beaten only three lengths in the Appalachian last time by Catch a Glimpse, currently the best 3-year-old turf filly in the country – and I probably will make an adjunct multirace exotics play leaning on her and Tiger Ride in the previous race.
But I want a little more coverage here on this main play and will include Gone Away in equal strength with Spinamiss, and Miss Katie Mae, Channel Regatta, and Wessex as backups.
Gone Away should catch firmer footing Friday than she did last time, and she’ll like that, judging from her maiden win and a third to Catch a Glimpse in her second and third career starts. Miss Katie Mae was an okay fourth in her U.S. debut last month, but I still wonder about her going this far. Channel Regatta steps up, but her blowout win in her 3-year-old debut fits well in the context of this race. Wessex is poorly posted on the extreme outside but showed ability in winning her only start at Gulfstream.
Race 11, the Black-Eyed Susan
Land Over Sea and Go Maggie Go finished second and fourth in the Kentucky Oaks two weeks ago, and I think they are just better than everyone else in this Black-Eyed Susan, and by a considerable margin. Of the two, I prefer Go Maggie Go. She had the tougher trip in the Oaks, mainly because she was squeezed back early, putting her much farther off the early pace than she projected to be. But Go Maggie Go showed a lot for a filly making only her third career start to rally and finish just a neck and a head behind Land Over Sea, who is a nice filly, too.
The only other one I could use here, and only as a backup, is Kinsley Kisses. Kinsley Kisses did not run particularly well when third in the Beaumont most recently. But she is now stretching out to a route, might be completely loose on the lead, and could show sharp improvement.
Here is the play, in main/backup format:
Race 8: 2,7/5
Race 9: 6,10/2,4
Race 10: 4,11/5,9,14
Race 11: 3,5/10