QUE CHISTOSO
Trainer: Bob Hess Jr.
Last race: Jan. 15, 8th
Finish: 3rd by 8 1/4
Beyer: 54
Making his debut in a maiden-$30K sprint, this gelding was void of speed, cut the corner, split horses, and finished with run. Good debut, Hess claimed him from Hector Palma.

ADRESTIA
Trainer: Mike Hushion
Last race: Jan. 14, 6th
Finish: 2nd by 1 3/4
Beyer: 50
Homebred filly by Mineshaft hooked up in a duel with the 1-2 favorite and fought doggedly to the wire in a promising debut.

Saturday, January 16

Fair Grounds - Col. E.R. Bradley Handicap (race 10)

COMMENT: Chocolate Ride thinks he owns this course, and with his record going to five wins in six starts here after another impressive victory, you can see why. The 6-year-old gelding again showed his versatility, going right out to the lead from the start. He was able to set slow splits, opened up a bit into the lane to give himself a buffer, and gamely kept to his task to keep the hard-trying Roman Approval at bay in the final half-furlong.

Oaklawn ushers in its program for 3-year-olds Monday with the running of the $150,000 Smarty Jones. It’s the middle leg of a late pick three and we’ll take a look at the sequence encompassing the seventh through ninth races. As for the forecast, the high for Monday is 42 degrees following a Sunday night low of 23 degrees, with little chance of precipitation, according to The Weather Channel.

I normally prefer playing the late pick four over the pick three at Gulfstream Park, but with eighth race, the first leg of the pick four, being a befuddling maiden contest, the late pick three is the wager of choice Monday.

Here are the horses I advise using, ranking horses as either ‘A’ or ‘B’ horses, depending on their chances and relative value. The ‘A’ horses are the most probable winners.

Race 9

I didn’t vote for every single winner announced at the Eclipse Awards ceremony Saturday evening. I diverged from popular opinion in three of the 17 equine and human categories I was able to vote for, but I don’t have a real gripe about any of Saturday night’s winners, with the exception of La Verdad.

Working on the assumption that rain Saturday night and Sunday morning will force all races off the grass for the 11-race Sunday card, I’ll start with an early pick three play using likely main-track winners in the first three races.

In Race 1, the two outside-drawn main-track-only entrants, TAKE TIME TO PRAY (12) and MITOS Y LEYENDAS (13), should have every chance to flaunt their speed from favorable spots; one of them can persist to the wire.

The late pick four at Gulfstream Park on Sunshine Millions Saturday is a solid sequence with three stakes races and a wide-open maiden special weight for 3-year-old dirt sprinters.

My plan is to try to beat the two morning-line favorites in both the first and third legs.

Our Pick last week appeared to be given too much to do, wandering along in the slop uncomfortably before settling down to finish fourth.  However, there were four other BreezeFigs maidens on that card who won, as well as a stakes winner at Santa Anita, so it wasn’t a total loss.  Overall, there were ten BreezeFigs maidens who came home on top during the week: Three at Aqueduct (including two exactas), one at Golden Gate, three at Gulfstream, two at Tampa and one at Turf Paradise.  Today’s card has a number of first-time starters w

Saturday’s card at Santa Anita features only one graded stakes, the Grade 2 La Canada, but it does showcase some solid races throughout the day. The two plays I’ll be making include a win wager and a daily double, each keying in on the main event.