Western Fair: $15,000 GTD Pick 5 analysis for Camluck Classic night

The biggest night of the year at The Raceway at Western Fair is on Friday, May 31 when the track presents the C$150,000 Camluck Classic for older pacers. Also on the menu is the C$50,000 Forest City Pace for pacing mares and a number of Ontario-sired events.

The card, which gets underway at 5:50 PM (EDT), offers 12 races and a number of betting opportunities including a pair of $15,000 GTD Pick 5’s (Races 1 & 8) and $7,500 GTD Pick 4’s (Races 2 & 9).

Below we look at the late Pick 5 that includes the featured Camluck and Forest City.

Race 8: Preferred Pace

Post position can be King on a half-mile track and (2) IDEAL PERCEPTION certainly gets a key shift in position from seven to two this week. Two starts back he rolled down the road in 1:54 from post three and a similar performance seems very likely. (6) ARTIES IDEAL displayed early speed and won in this class from post seven back in February. He also just missed while finishing with broken equipment last time. If he makes the top without issue and the trip works out, he can certainly win.

Race 9: Forest City Pace

(2) TALK CURDY TO ME overcame bad cover to get a win in the Juravinski last time over #1 and prior to that she won the Ont. Graduate at Mohawk. You have to expect she’ll push away enough to get a pocket trip and have every chance of pacing by (1) GLENBORO in the lane. The latter is clearly a threat to wire the field if no one takes a shot early from the outside and she gets away with soft fractions. I’m going to play against 2023 winner So Much More as I think she’ll wind up first-over. She could win with that trip but hopefully not for our sake.

Race 10: Camluck Classic

(1) HELLABALOU only has one win on the year but it came in the richest race of 2024 so far. One certainty is he’ll firing off the gate and that gives him a huge advantage on a track where this post wins 19% of the time and horses on the lead at the three-quarter call win 61.7% of the races. Not sure I’m dying to bet him, but everything points to this as a great spot. (8) POSEIDON SEELSTER was third in this race in 2022 and has a handful of starts on half-mile tracks over that time. Starting from the second tier, maybe he can get away in the pocket and sit a golden trip if a horse like Linedrive Hanover pushes the top pick hard from the start, which is very possible. Linedrive is the best horse in the race for my money but will have his work cut out for him from the outside.

Race 11: OSS Grassroots

(2) BOOMBOOM TONIGHT has been facing tougher over at Mohawk and while he showed no early speed in those races, he did last year on a smaller track. This looks like a winning spot. (5) LIEGE SEELSTER comes off a nice win at Flamboro and you have to like that he went to the lead in that mile. (4) LAKERS BANK is coming off an impressive win of his own and really hasn’t done much wrong thus far; clear threat.

Race 12: OSS Grassroots

(1) SINATRA HANOVER faced some older foes last time and now lands pylon position against his peers. Last year at Grand River he showed he can fire off the gate and win on a smaller track. (6) BET THE BB has a pair of recent wins at Flamboro and owns the early speed to get in play from the outside post. (3) WILD DOC HOLLIDAY won at first asking over this track last time and he’s clearly a better 3-year-old than he was at age 2. (8) LOGAN BEHOLD almost won at Mohawk in a 1:51 mile two weeks back. If he can navigate the second tier he’ll certainly be a factor.

.20 Pick 5 Spread Ticket:

2,6 / 1,2 / 1,8 / 2,4,5 / 1,3,6,8 = $19.20

.20 Pick 5 Focused Ticket:

2 / 1,2 / 1 / 2,4,5 / 1,3,6,8 = $4.80