Saturday, February 21

Gulfstream - Rampart (race 4)

COMMENT: House Rules, twice Grade 2 placed, showed her affinity for this place continues as she notched her first graded stakes win, but she had to withstand an inquiry and was the beneficiary of a questionable call. Coming off a 9 1/4-length win in the Bal Harbour here Jan. 2, she bided her time early as Flutterby set a decent pace under pressure from 4-5 favorite Wedding Toast and 22-1 outsider Sheer Drama.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Based on quality and quantity, the racing Sunday at Santa Anita is modest. Therefore, a conservative strategy is recommended. If Sunday turns out to be a winning day, it will not be enough to brag about. If Sunday is a losing day, losses will be minimal. Below is how this handicapper plans to play.

Races 1-2

Though the early races on the Gulfstream card look pretty formful, there may be some value in the middle part of the program. I'll try to hit the pick three, starting with race 7.

Race 7

Some decent-sized, competitive fields in the middle of the card give a pick three (races 5-7) some appeal.

Race 5

Z BESHA (#8) was very slow into stride in his debut here Jan. 31 but finished full of run to get third. He can surely benefit from that outing and is bred to be any kind. He’s by a Horse of the Year (Ghostzapper) and kin to last year’s champion female sprinter, Judy the Beauty.

Race 1
DR. NEFARIO (1) can’t possibly be as bad as his first two starts, can he? His latest at Gulfstream might be particularly misrepresentative, as he was far too eager in the early going. Now he drops in for a first tag for the Silver Max connections and draws favorably on the hedge. At 12-1 on the morning line, he’s worth trying by tying him up with the two logicals, RUN SAICHI (6) and LET’S WRAP IT UP (10).

I’m looking to play a late pick three at Santa Anita on Saturday afternoon, keying my play around a runner in the Sensational Star.

RACE 7

:: Build your pick three ticket with DRF TicketMaker | DRF TicketMaker (Mobile)

Saturday’s Fountain of Youth Stakes card at Gulfstream, which also includes the seasonal debut of the 2014 Eclipse Award-winning older male and turf male Main Sequence, achieves the desired blend of being long on quality and long on betting opportunities. Let’s take a look at it:

Let’s take a look at the 50-cent late pick four at Gulfstream on a huge afternoon of racing.

The concern is that this bet might end up very chalky. You have champion Main Sequence returning to the races in the Mac Diarmida, two strong favorites in Upstart and Frosted in the Fountain of Youth, and a fairly heavy favorite in Dreaming of Gold in the finale. Let’s see if we can cook up some value somewhere.

I’ll post both caveman and Ticketmaker plays.

There are a few runners on Saturday’s card at Santa Anita who have appeal and can prove quite useful in your various in-race wagers and multi-race wagers.

Race 4

The less said about our Pick last week, the better.  Good, that’s better.  However, BreezeFigs horses elsewhere made up for it with 10 of them braking their maidens, two of them winning stakes, and one of those stakes winners kicking off a BreezeFigs trifecta.  Four maidens won at Gulfstream, two of which kicked off BreezeFigs exactas.  Two others scored at Tampa, and there were solo jobs at Fair Grounds, Los Alamitos, Parx and Sam Houston.