Saturday's Free Horse Racing Picks: Late Pick Four At Woodbine
Saturday's Free Horse Racing Picks: Late Pick Four At Woodbine
It’s going to be a pretty wet day across a lot of tracks in the United States, so I’m headed up to Canada for Saturday’s late Pick Four at Woodbine. The card features 10 races, and this sequence (which boasts a 20-cent minimum) begins in the seventh. I’ll attack it with a $9.60 play, and here’s how I’ve constructed my ticket.
RACE #7
We’ll start things off with a very popular single. This is an allowance event that drew a field of 11, but it may very well feature the heaviest favorite of the sequence, and for good reason.
#8 BELICHICK has never run a bad race, and that includes several tries against stakes competition. He just missed in his 2021 debut at Churchill Downs, and this seems like a far softer group. He’ll be a single for many people, myself included, and if he runs his usual race, I think he’ll be a very formidable foe.
RACE #8
Things open up considerably in this maiden optional claiming race for older fillies and mares. It’s drawn a seven-horse field, and I’m using four of them.
My top pick is a bit of a price. #5 LACOUGRA showed brief speed in two starts against maiden special weight foes last fall. She comes back against a softer group, gets Lasix for the first time, and attracts top local jockey Kazushi Kimura. She’s 6-1 on the morning line, and if she’s ready to run, she may very well lead them a long way.
#2 SUPER DUPER, #3 LITTLE MISS CAT, and #4 SWEET EDITION are also on my ticket. The first two of those runners are first-time starters, and both seem to have been working well ahead of their respective unveilings.
RACE #9
I’m also going four-deep in this race, an optional claimer for older turf distaffers. Trainer Mark Casse is set to saddle two of the top contenders, #4 ART OF ALMOST and #5 TAPPITTY TAPPITTY, and I’m using them both. However, neither is my top selection.
#10 JUXTAPOSE is a win type, plainly and simply. She’s won five times in 10 tries, including a last-out win earlier on in the meet. She has tactical speed, but doesn’t necessarily need the lead to run well. This is certainly a class test, but it sure seems like she’s gotten better as she’s gotten older, and she hits me as an overlay at or near her 10-1 morning line price.
I’ll also throw in #8 AFLEET KATHERINE, who I liked a bit last time out when she ran fourth going a bit shorter. It’s possible she just needed a race off of a long layoff, and she has back races that are certainly good enough to put her right there.
RACE #10
The Saturday nightcap is a two-turn route over the synthetic main track, and like several other races in this sequence, it drew a big field. 12 horses will go postward, and I’ll have three of them on my ticket.
I’m most intrigued by the biggest price of the group. #11 AVOMAN is a stakes-winner, having won a Canadian-bred event last fall, and he’s been working lights-out for a barn that’s off to a great start this season. Two turns is an unknown, but I like the blinkers going on, which indicates he should be forwardly-placed and have every right to work out a dream trip. If he’s the horse he was last year, he’s got a big shot.
I’m also using #7 H C HOLIDAY and #12 POUND GREEN. The former ran a gigantic race off the bench and tries winners for the first time in his first outing with Lasix, while the latter won a different division of the same race and has some two-turn form from last season.
THE TICKET
R7: 8
R8: 2,3,4,5
R9: 4,5,8,10
R10: 7,11,12