Sunday’s card at Santa Anita is highlighted by the Grade 2 Charlie Whittingham, and I’ll look to play a late pick three, with the middle leg being the Whittingham.

Seemed a little lazy and not quite prepared—that’s our assessment of our Pick last week but R Shade of Gray did manage to rumble home to finish off a $100 trifecta. So it shouldn’t be a total loss, the third race on that card at Parx was won by Woodford Tea, a BreezeFigs second-time starter who paid $23, one of five BreezeFigs maiden 3-year-olds to score last week.

It’s an interesting Saturday card at Santa Anita, particularly with a couple of the Cal-bred stakes assimilated into the late pick four (races 8-11). I’ll be relying on VELVET MESQUITE to return to peak form after being regrouped by Blake Heap as a single in the Fran’s Valentine (race 10) while also trying to skate by with just two horses, MONTEREY SHALE and TENGAS RANSOM, in the preceding race for statebred maiden sprinters. I’ll bookend the play with scatter-shots that hopefully cover all bases.

MAWTHOOQ
Trainer: Kiaran McLaughlin
Last race: May 18th, 1st
Finish: 2nd by 1/2
Beyer: 89
Making his first start back from a layoff that extended beyond 500 days, he showed fresh speed to rush up to the front and fought gamely when collared in the stretch in what was a promising first step back.  Began his career with plenty of promise prior to hitting the sidelines, and he appeared to still be capable based on this race. 

GRAN BID
Trainer: Will Armata
Last race: May 21, 5th
Finish: 3rd by 1
Beyer: 76
Sent off as the favorite in a one-mile starter allowance, he was stuck in traffic most of the way before making up significant ground in the final furlong after finding room.

May 21

Belmont

Vagrancy Handicap (race 11)
COMMENT: Paulassilverlining had little trouble validating her 1-5 favoritism. She broke alertly from her rail slot, was content to sit third staying on the rail as West Coast Chick set a solid pace under pressure from Momameamaria, found a seam turning for home, moved through to grab the lead, and won geared down. West Coast Chick had no answer when the winner surged past but kept to her task to hold second. Stormy Sky lagged back and ran on decently.

Arlington

PASCHALITSA
Trainer: John Sadler
Last race: May 19, 4th
Finish: 6th by 11 1/4
Beyer: 49
Wheeling back in 11 days and overmatched in a starter allowance, this filly finished last. The toss-out race disguises her form. Follow when she returns to a claiming race.

The $500,000-guaranteed pick four on the Preakness undercard Saturday at Pimlico offers a little bit of everything, from superstars to blue-collar allowance runners. Take everything I’ve written with a grain of salt simply because the weather forecast calls for legitimate rain in the Baltimore area, and it would seem as though the turf events could be in danger of coming off the grass.

The 141st running of the Preakness Stakes features the one-two (and ninth-place) finishers from the Kentucky Derby, but from a pace standpoint they are not at all similar. The Derby featured one clear one-dimensional speed in Danzing Candy, with a couple of stalkers and a dozen or so closers. The Preakness, of course, is loaded with speed, and that makes taking a short price on Nyquist dicey regardless of his credentials.

The following is a list of DRF resources and content related to the Preakness card at Pimlico on Saturday, May 21.

DRF Live! featuring coverage and post-race analysis