Bruce's Dream last won in October of 2010 when he stretched his neck out to defeat Colgan's Chip in the Cal Cup Mile at Hollywood Park.
The first ho-hum card of the meet sees seven maiden and claiming races along with the featured $100,000 allowance optional claimer at a mile on turf that drew just five runners. A pick-6 carryover of $76,492 spices things up over a sequence that can still yield the prices we’ve become accustomed to by the sea.
Wheeling back just over a week after running third in the Wickerr, Key Decision is the 8-to-5 favorite in the feature for A.C. Avila. Multiple Group 1 placed in his native Argentina, the 4-year-old son of Not For Sale pressed quick fractions in the Wickerr before succumbing to a pair of nice runners and should see company on the front end again today.
A pace duel can set things up for the come backing 4-to-1 co-third choice Bruce’s Dream, a winner in six of his nine career starts including a pair of Cal-bred stakes. Not seen since a disappointing effort in the Citation (Grade II) in November of 2010, the 6-year-old son of Atticus returns to a course where he’s won 3-of-4 starts and ran third in the Del Mar Mile (Grade II) two years ago.
Stretching out for the first time, Obviously is the 2-to-1 second choice entering with seven in the money finishes from eight career starts. The 4-year-old Irish-bred son of Choisir has been his own worst enemy early in races, either breaking slowly or pulling, and the two-turn distance is a big question mark despite a pair of solid six-furlong drills on the main track.
The other 4-to-1 shot is Racing Aptitude, who returns to the turf for the first time since moving to the barn of Bob Baffert at the end of last year. The 4-year-old son of Aptitude has just one win in four starts since shipping west, but did post consecutive wins on Calder’s lawn back in 2010.
We’re off to the races!
Pick 4 -
Leg 1 – Race 5 (1,2,4,7,8) – Bottom-level female sprinters and we spread with No. 1 Indy Beauty, No. 2 Moon Stone Madness, No. 4 Lil Miss Macky, No. 7 Somethingabouterri and No. 8 Mavicsa.
Leg 2 – Race 6 (1,3,4,6) – No. 1 Mine Fever drops from a debut allowance effort on opening day and can break Jerry Hollendorfer’s drought to start the meet.
Add a trio of first-time starters with No. 3 Army Commander, No. 4 Silver Lightning and No. 6 Monument.
Leg 3 – Race 7 (1,4,5) – We’ll stick with classy turf milers No. 4 Bruce’s Dream and No. 5 Key Decision, and use Baffert’s No. 1 Racing Aptitude.
Leg 4 – Race 8 (1,2,7,8,9) – Maiden allowance runners over a route of ground close the day and we book end the sequence with five-packs using No. 1 Jules Journey, No. 2 Money Talker, No. 7 Hometown Hero, No. 8 The Brain and No. 9 Timberlite.
Recap – (1,2,4,7,8) w (1,3,4,6) w (1,4,5) w (1,2,7,8,9) – Total cost of ticket = $150
Yesterday’s Result – (-$162)
Total for current Del Mar meet – (+$416.25)
Total from 12/26/10 – 7/15/12 – (-$1,571.15)
Pick 5 –
Leg 1 – Race 1 (1,4,5,7) – No. 7 Beau Royale is sure to take lots of action on the drop off a pair of solid races and barn switch, but his three-month layoff is a concern so we’ll spread with No. 1 America Rising, No. 4 Cabo Uno and No. 5 Speargun.
Leg 2 – Race 2 (1,2,3,7) – If Beau Royale scores, that could set up Vann Belvoir to sweep the early double with No. 1 Rich Kid, who stretches out after a pair of sprints at Calder and could be lone speed.
He did break his maiden for a $12,500 tag, so we’ll add the trio of No. 2 The Roan Ranger, No. 3 Heart Fever and No. 7 The Bien’s Gift.
Leg 3 – Race 3 (2) – No. 2 Let’s Get Crackin takes a big drop off the barn switch for an owner based in Iowa looking to liquidate local stock and should prove tough to handle after primarily facing stakes-type horses in Southern California. Along with his tactical speed, he had a solid five-furlong work over this track on July 18.
Leg 4 – Race 4 (1,2,3,4) – Cal-bred maiden allowance runners sprint six furlongs and we’ll use the inside quartet of No. 1 Quizzical, No. 2 Bella Viaggia, No. 3 Romance Is Roman and No. 4 Tiz a Daisy.
Leg 5 – Race 5 (1,2,4,7,8) – Same five as the Pick-4.
Recap – (1,4,5,7) w (1,2,3,7) w (2) w (1,2,3,4) w (1,2,4,7,8) – Total cost of ticket = $160
Yesterday’s Result – (-$180)
Total for current Del Mar meet – (+$15,653.45)
Total from 7/20/11 – 7/15/12 – (+$1,874.55)
Best Bet of the Day – Can now be found in the free analysis section at www.theracingedition.com along with an early Pick-4 ticket and a consensus box for the entire card.
Make sure to follow me on Twitter @mdoche for last minute changes caused by scratches and much more!
Check out my blogs for America’s Best Racing on www.followhorseracing.com!
Listen to my weekly HD Los Angeles sports podcast!
To view my horse racing channel on YouTube click here!
For more DelMar action check out Jarrod Horak’s Pick 6 Blog.
Good luck!
