Saturday’s card at Santa Anita features two graded stakes races, the Grade 2 Santa Maria on the main track for fillies and mares, and the Grade 2 Arcadia for older horses on the turf. The races are carded as the fourth and fifth of a nine-race program, and I’ll take a look at a pick 3 sequence comprised of races four through six.
The late pick five starts in the eighth race with a promising field of maiden 3-year-olds in a 7 1/2-furlong turf sprint. The debuting ROCKETRY (1) recorded a series of B- drills on the DRF Clocker Report prior to working an impressive B+ on the grass at Palm Meadows on Feb. 3. I’ll also use WANNABEAPLAYER (10), who has worked nicely since narrowly losing his opener in a similar spot.
Race 4:
Have Another (#7)
Was wide against a gold rail two back and had to swerve to avoid an incident on the far turn.
Ran a sub-24-second final quarter last time when closing in a race dominated by the frontrunner.
Gets a positive rider switch to Angel Arroyo.
5-2 on ML
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We’re back after a week of horse business in Argentina (where you should go sometime, fascinating country, fun racing). While we were gone, BreezeFigs maidens continued to impress in the number of winners, with 11 coming in the past week alone, at: Aqueduct, Charles Town, Gulfstream, Laurel, Oaklawn (three), Parx, Santa Anita (BreezeFigs exacta) and Tampa Bay (two, including a BreezeFigs exacta).
ARCADIA, Calif. - The $2 pick six paid $7,163 to five ticketholders Thursday at Santa Anita. Because there was more than one winner, there is a carryover of $7,675 in the single-ticket jackpot pool for Friday’s eight-race program. That portion of the pick six is paid out only if there is one winning ticket.
The winners of Thursday’s pick six races were Mimis Big Boy ($11), Louden’s Gray ($9.80), Salsita ($5), Will Tell ($11.40), Liam the Charmer ($5.60), and Hot Paris Night ($5.60).
The public figures to bet the class on the grass in Saturday’s Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap, backing Grade 1 winners Divisidero and Beach Patrol to be the race favorites. And no argument here. Either one could prove the winner – they’re just a little too obvious.