DEL MAR, Calif. – Want to back a “sure winner” Sunday at Del Mar? Races 6 and 7 are perfect for that.
TUSK has been running well against good maidens in New York and Kentucky. The 2-year-old meets an ordinary field of locals in race 6 at one mile on turf. POWER JAM has been posting fast workouts for his first start since a dominating debut in February. The high-figure entrant (93 Beyer Speed Figure), he returns in race 7, an allowance sprint.
Trainer Monte Thomas saddles Get a Room (#2, ML 8-1) in Saturday's third race at Gulfstream Park West, the 6 1/2-furlong Juvenile Filly Sprint Stakes. Since Jan., 1, 2014, Thomas is winning at a 30 percent clip when saddling a horse coming off a win, for a return on investment of $3.98.
I'll key the following horses in multiple-race wagers and will play them to win if they meet my personal value line requirements:
Race 8 – WALK CLOSE (10) – 8-1 Morning Line, 5-1 Value Line
The feature race at the Big A on Saturday afternoon is the Grade 3, $200,000, Long Island Handicap for fillies and mares at 1 1/2 miles on turf. It’s a solid race full of evenly matched runners, but I’m playing Walk Close, an extremely consistent filly trained by Christophe Clement.
Trainer Hugh Robertson saddles Dear Fay (#9, ML 12-1) in Friday's eighth race at Laurel Park, a 5 1/2-furlong allowance optional claimer on turf. Since Jan. 1, 2014, Robertson is winning at a 28 percent clip when saddling a horse switching from route to sprint, for a return on investment of $3.42.
Subcontractor (#7, 5-1) returns in Friday's eighth race at Gulfstream Park West, a 6 1/2-furlong starter optional claimer. It will be his first start since finishing first by 1 1/4 lengths in a claiming race Sept. 16 at Belmont Park. The third-, fourth-, and fifth-place finishers from that race came back to win their next starts.
Sent too early and worn out near the wire, our key last week, My Dinah Lee, faded to fourth to complete a $149 superfecta, but that was only if you liked her at 32-to-1 with the three favorites. Otherwise, bupkus. Sorry. Still, it was a good week for BreezeFigs maidens and stakes horses, with Nyquist winning the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and one of our previous Pix, Sheikh to Sheikh, taking the Juvenile Dirt Sprint.
Saturday’s card at Del Mar is highlighted by the second running of the Kathryn Crosby Stakes, and I’ll incorporate that into my plays for the day. It’s looking like an early double/late double combination of plays for me, “Where the Turf Meets the Surf.”
Trainer Larry Pilotti saddles Sunset Silhouette (#3, ML 4-1) in Thursday's ninth race at Gulfstream Park West, a six-furlong optional claimer. Since Jan., 1, 2014, Pilotti is winning at a 30 percent clip in claiming races, for a return on investment of $2.67.