Aqueduct | Race 8 | Post Time 3:50 p.m. (ET) | Go To The TimeformUS PPs

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Oaklawn | Race 8 | Post Time 4:38 p.m. (CT) | Go To The FREE TimeformUS PPs

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Oaklawn Park’s road to the Kentucky Derby kicks off Monday with the 10th running of the $150,000 Smarty Jones. Like all one-mile events at Oaklawn Park, this race features a very short stretch run and ends at the first finish line.

The only turf race Sunday at Santa Anita, race 4, is likely to switch to the main track. After all, uncertain course condition is why the $75,000 Astra Stakes scheduled for Sunday was postponed.

 If the maiden race Sunday is moved to dirt, the announcement will be made that morning.

 The regrettable effect of a surface switch is it would kill the price on a purported race-4 longshot, Wise Curlin, who enters the mile route with a distinct pace advantage. He is 10-1 in the program. Bettors should expect less, assuming surface change and subsequent scratches.

Race 2:
China Rider (#6)
Has done her best running in dirt sprints.
Was racing three-wide against a strong rail bias last time out.
Should get some pace to close into with speeds Heavenly Score, Miss Pearl, and Really drawn inside of her.
7-2 on ML
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Aqueduct | Race 5 | Post Time 2:20 p.m. (ET) | Go To The TimeformUS PPs 

Encouraged by his return to a one-turn mile at Gulfstream Park, Tommy Macho is my key play in the Grade 3 Hal’s Hope on Saturday – a horse around which I will construct some pick-four plays to go for a large payoff. What follows below are the horses I like in the other legs of the sequence, with Tommy Macho being a single in the Hal’s Hope.

Race 9

Saturday’s featured event at Santa Anita is the Grade 2 La Canada for older fillies and mares, and Vale Dori towers over the field for trainer Bob Baffert. The La Canada is the fifth race on a nine-race card, making it the payoff leg of the Pick Five. Here’s a look at tomorrow’s Pick Five sequence, kicking off with race one.

Race 4:
Opportunity Cost (#7)
Ran well despite breaking slowly and racing greenly in his debut.
Todd Pletcher gets a 100 TimeformUS Trainer rating with second-time starters.
Should show more early speed this time.
7-2 on ML

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Aqueduct | Race 6 | Post Time 2:50 p.m. (ET) | Go To The TimeformUS PPs

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We got snowed out of our Pick at Aqueduct last week, which was a surprise since the forecast was for schmutz. The weather also wreaked havoc at other venues across the country, but the week’s total of BreezeFigs maidens which won was still impressive: 15 of them got their pictures taken.