Bode Miller and the Baffert's are all smiles after Carving breaks his maiden at Del Mar.
Where can a legendary basketball coach and a skiing champion compete against each other? On the race track of course.
Avare, co-owned by Rick Pitino, and Carving, co-owned by Bode Miller, are top contenders in the $100,000 Real Quiet Stakes for juveniles at 1 1/16-miles on Hollywood Park’s main track.
After an even debut effort in a solid sprint heat at Del Mar this summer, Avare stretched out on turf to break his maiden in impressive fashion at Santa Anita on October 6. The son of Johannesburg passed up a shot in the Breeders’ Cup in hopes of using the Real Quiet as a spring board to the $750,000 Cash Call Futurity (Grade 1) on December 15 and is the 7-to-2 third choice on the morning line.
Carving is the 5-to-2 favorite looking to bounce back from a double-digit defeat in the FrontRunner Stakes (G1) when he was pressured on the lead throughout before tiring. The Any Given Saturday colt began his career for Bob Baffert with a pair of wins, including an ungraded stakes at Fariplex Park.
Exiting an impressive maiden score of his own, Simon Eyes is the 3-to-1 second choice shipping in from Keeneland off a 4 ½-length win. The son of Street Hero was well beaten in a pair of tries on dirt earlier in the year and could be the fastest early stretching out for the first time after making the lead in his last despite a slow start.
The 4-to-1 fourth choice is Fury Kapicori, who has rebounded with a pair of clear wins in Northern California after an eighth-place debut over Cushion Track in July. The son of Tiznow is also likely to be forwardly placed after pressing the pace and drawing away against a short field of five in an ungraded stakes at Golden Gate in his last.
We’re off to the races!
Late Pick 4 -
Leg 1 – Race 6 (9,15) – No. 9 Besame Suances plummets to the bottom after a long string of solid efforts in maiden allowance company. While we usually don’t love 6-year-old maidens, his late kick should be good enough against this group.
Double up with No. 15 Midnight Raven going as a first-time gelding on a return to a synthetic surface and getting Rafael Bejarano for the first time.
Leg 2 – Race 7 (1,2,4,8,10) – No. 8 Alphie’s Bet gets major class relief returning from a long layoff and is the horse to bet if he’s anywhere near his 15-to-1 morning line price.
He may be rusty so we’ll spread with No. 1 Smokey Lonesome, No. 2 Starspangled Heat and No. 10 Fire with Fire.
Leg 3 – Race 8 (ALL) – Punch the all button in a difficult race to decipher with half of the short field of six returning off double layoff lines for top barns and the two with the best current form hailing from lower profile trainers.
Leg 4 – Race 9 (1,2,4,5,6,8) – A wide-open maiden allowance turf sprint to close a solid card and we spread with No. 1 Will True Up, No. 2 Say Ow, No. 4 Real Heat, No. 5 Royal Barrister, No. 6 Anytime and No. 8 Najran Breeze.
Recap – (9,15) w (1,2,4,8,10) w (ALL) w (1,2,4,5,6,8) – Total cost of ticket = $180
Yesterday’s Result – (-$162)
Total for current Hollywood Park meet – (-$372)
Total from 12/26/10 – 11/4/12 – (-$1,006.45)
Pick 5 –
Leg 1 – Race 1 (1,4,5) – We’ll count on a heated early pace to set it up for either No. 1 Ghost N Your Heart, No. 4 Roman Charity or No. 5 Addendum to rally late for the win.
Leg 2 – Race 2 (1,3,5,6) – No. 5 In a Wine Tizzy could have the pace advantage, but he can’t be trusted from low-percentage connections so we’ll spread with No. 1 Tribe, No. 3 Magnum Force and No. 6 M Two Forty.
Leg 3 – Race 3 (7) – We’ll take a stand and single No. 7 Avare.
Leg 4 – Race 4 (3,4,5,11,12) – Bottom-level grizzled claiming sprinters and we’ll use five horses that do their best running on synthetics with No. 3 Madeoftherightstuf, No. 4 Fire in the Wind, No. 5 Trumpet Player Jay, No. 11 Warren’s Concept and No. 12 Imperial Pride.
Leg 5 – Race 5 (1,2,9,10) – A trio of speedsters should knock heads early and pave the way for closers with No. 1 Porfido, No. 2 Slammer Time, No. 9 Moment of Weakness and No. 10 Euroglide.
Recap – (1,4,5) w (1,3,5,6) w (7) w (3,4,5,11,12) w (1,2,9,10) – Total cost of ticket = $120
Yesterday’s Result – (-$90)
Total for current Hollywood Park meet – (-$315)
Total from 7/20/11 – 11/4/12 – (+$16,685.25)
Best Bet of the Day – Can now be found in the Pros Picks section at www.santaanita.com.
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Good luck!
