Quaintly battled bravely inside a pair of talented runners when coming up half a length short in the Beverly Hills Handicap (Grade III) in June.
Ahead of an exciting weekend of graded stakes action that culminates with Sunday’s $1 million Pacific Classic (Grade I), seven fillies and mares marathon over 1 3/8-miles on turf in the $85,000 CTT & TOC Handicap.
Quaintly is the 5-to-2 morning line favorite and 116-lb. high weight as the only runner with experience past 1 ¼-miles having posted a win from two starts at today’s distance in Ireland and finishing in the money going a furlong further in three U.S. tries. The 4-year-old was not disgraced in three recent graded stakes tries and reunites with Victor Espinoza after having the frigid Yuichi Fukunaga aboard the last two times.
Let’s Go Cheyenne returns off a 3-month freshening as the 3-to-1 second choice in her stakes debut trying to carry her speed a quarter of a mile further than she’s ever run. The 4-year-old daughter of Tiznow retains the services of Joe Talamo, who had also been aboard Thisismystage in her last two starts.
Edwin Maldanado lands on Thisismystage, also making her stakes debut at 6-to-1 for Class Racing Stable. With her last win coming by over two lengths when going 1 ¼-miles, the 4-year-old daughter of Theatrical could enjoy the stretch back out to more ground after seeing her rally come up short in a pair of fourth-place finishes going shorter.
Warren’s Got Game is intriguing at 10-to-1 as the only runner in the field that owns a win over this turf course. The 5-year-old daughter of Ancient Art makes her first start for Bill Spawr, who hits at nearly 25% in the first off a claim and has a long history of success moving runners up.
We’re off to the races!
Pick 4 -
Leg 1 – Race 4 (4,6,8,9) – Another seven-race card means a two-race overlap starting with maiden-claiming female sprinters where we spread with No. 4 Kvetch, No. 6 Mirror Ball, No. 8 Hanserella and No. 9 Christmas Candy.
Leg 2 – Race 5 (1,2,6,8) – No. 8 Willie Brown finally hit the wire first running without his nuts for the first time and can win right back at hefty odds as so often happens with recent geldings that learn how to win.
In this contentious starter allowance affair, add the trio of No. 1 Candy’s Sunrise, No. 2 Hammer the Bay and No. 6 Smoken Legacy.
Leg 3 – Race 6 (ALL) – A three-week respite and a drop from a trio of graded stakes tries should do the trick for No. 2 Quaintly to get her first win in the U.S. She can be tactically placed just behind streaking front-runner Let’s Go Cheyenne and capitalize when that one tires off the layoff at this extended 1 3/8-miles distance.
However, if it’s not her it could be any of the other six runners so we’ll punch the all button.
Leg 4 – Race 7 (4,8,9) – No. 8 It’s Aine and No. 9 Only Josie Knows drop from allowance company having run much faster than the other maiden claimers in this group.
No. 4 Tribal Custom might get over bet making her debut for top-notch trainer Marty Jones, and we’ll add her although we don’t like the pair of three-furlong drills at the end of her work tab nor the struggling Patrick Valenzuela in the irons.
Recap – (4,6,8,9) w (1,2,6,8) w (ALL) w (4,8,9) – Total cost of ticket = $168
Yesterday’s Result – (-$168)
Total for current Del Mar meet – (-$149.70)
Total from 12/26/10 – 7/15/12 – (-$1,571.15)
Pick 5 –
Leg 1 – Race 1 (7) – Plenty of early heat can set things up for No. 7 Imperial Pride to break through in his third off the layoff after a pair of runner-up efforts and get apprentice jockey Vinnie Bednar off the duck.
Leg 2 – Race 2 (4,5,6,7) – The first of three maiden claimers on the evening and we’ll use four runners with No. 4 Duke Street King, No. 5 Trice Up, No. 6 Kentucky Kid and No. 7 Kafister.
Leg 3 – Race 3 (1,3,4,6,7,8) – Another loaded turf sprint where we spread with No. 1 Sweet Swap, No. 3 Consulado, No. 4 Brutally Handsome, No. 6 Bling Cha Bling, No. 7 Grumpy Small Mouth and No. 8 U S Citizen.
Leg 4 – Race 4 (4,6,8,9) – Same four as the Pick-4.
Leg 5 – Race 5 (1,2,6,8) – Same four as the Pick-4.
Recap – (7) w (4,5,6,7) w (1,3,4,6,7,8) w (4,6,8,9) w (1,2,6,8) – Total cost of ticket = $192
Yesterday’s Result – (-$192)
Total for current Del Mar meet – (+$16,739.30)
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.
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Good luck!
