Garrett Gomez is back aboard Mizdirection today hoping to say "cheese" again with Mr. and Mrs. Van Smack in the winner's circle.
In what could well be a graded stakes with a much heftier purse, Mizdirection is the 7-to-5 morning line favorite going for her fifth straight win against seven rivals in the $70,000 Great Lady M at six furlongs on turf.
The only defeat when sprinting on the grass for the 4-year-old daughter of Mizzen Mast came in a runner-up effort after a troubled trip over this layout in last year’s Manhattan Beach. Owned in part by Jim Rome’s Jungle Racing, Mizdirection dug deep without the same turn of foot she has on her preferred surface to win the Las Cienegas at Santa Anita on April 14 in a race that was washed on to the main track.
After a pair of wins down the hill at Santa Anita along with a near-miss to Unzip Me in the Wishing Well, Teroda was just run down by Mizdirection in the Las Cienegas and is the 4-to-1 co-third choice today. The 4-year-old daughter of Limehouse has come from off the pace in all her turf efforts and will surely sit back today with the abundance of speed breaking to her outside.
Broken Dreams ships back to Southern California as the other 4-to-1 shot in search of the form she displayed prior to a pair of dismal efforts on the other side of the country. The 6-year-old daughter of Broken Vow recorded the only triple-digit Beyer (102) in the field while running third in last year’s edition of this race and followed that up with a stylish allowance score sprinting over this course.
The second choice at 7-to-2 is Briecat, who cuts back to a sprint after setting the pace before getting caught late and settling for second in the Wilshire Handicap (Grade III) a month ago. The only other time the 7-year-old daughter of Adcat sprinted over this surface she closed nicely to win the Cool Air Stakes by a nose last December.
We’re off to the races!
Pick 4 -
Leg 1 – Race 6 (3,4,6,7,8,9) – A strong $32,000 claimer at a mile on turf to start the sequence and we spread with No. 3 Cayambe, No. 4 Sky Cape, No. 6 Dewey’s Speical, No. 7 Fire Break, No. 8 Dress Code and No. 9 Celestic Night.
Leg 2 – Race 7 (1,2,5,7) – Expect continued improvement from No. 2 Classic Legacy after coming up just short last time and costing us a nice score.
No. 1 Joy Boy’s pattern of good race, bad race has him sitting on go today, No. 5 Fiddlers Afleet tries a synthetic surface for the first time after a failed effort in a stake for New York-breds at Belmont Park and No. 7 Megastar won over this surface in his second off a layoff in December..
Leg 3 – Race 8 (1,3,4) – A trio of long shot speedsters will ensure solid early fractions and while many think No. 4 Mizdirection is a lay-up, No. 1 Teroda might be up to the task.
No. 6 Broken Dreams hasn’t been training great so we’re not sure she can bounce back to her previous form and No. 7 Briecat had things all her own way on an easy lead last time and still got caught.
The x-factor in here at a big price is No. 3 Mega Dream, who won he debut for Jeff Bonde over the main track at Oaklawn and has been firing bullets since coming to California. Her lone turf try was no good at Saratoga last summer, but she accentuated her workout pattern with a solid turf move a week ago and gets Rafael Bejarano.
Leg 4 – Race 9 (2,5,9,12) – No. 2 Valkyrie Missile wheels back in two weeks and drops off a career best effort and a regression is likely so we’ll include No. 5 Titian, No. 9 Bertran Hill and No. 12 My Man Sumo.
Recap – (3,4,6,7,8,9) w (1,2,5,7) w (1,3,4) w (2,5,9,12) – Total cost of ticket = $144
Yesterday’s Result – (-$144)
Total for current Hollywood Park spring/summer meet – (-$1,135.40)
Total from 12/26/10 – 4/22/12 – (+$588.70)
Pick 5 –
Leg 1 – Race 1 (2,3) – No. 2 Halfapondarosa scratched from a turf heat yesterday to go over her preferred main track where she always comes with a strong late run.
No. 3 Kiss My Swiss is back on her favorite surface after an even try on turf and could skip clear to an early lead.
Leg 2 – Race 2 (1,3,6) – No. 1 Tiz a Bud Girl is the top pick with the hope she gets taken off the pace on the drop in class.
No. 3 You’llalwaysbemine also drops in class and romped by nearly six lengths in her only try on Cushion Track.
No. 6 Lady Lohr is worth a flier stretching out on what could be a lonely lead with the weight break.
Leg 3 – Race 3 (1,3,6) – A clean break should make No. 3 Miner’s Daughter tough in her second start for Baffert.
No. 1 Flashy Dame has been running into some tough customers and No. 6 Personal Sunset had no chance in her last when breaking from the far outside in a turf sprint.
Leg 4 – Race 4 (1,2,5,6) – A trio of newcomers lure top riders and are short morning-line prices, but we’ll look to experience runners instead with No. 1 My Best Brother, No. 2 Sea to Sky, No. 5 Fable Haven and No. 6 War Face.
Leg 5 – Race 5 (3,4,5,6) – We’ll use the four non-claiming types in this first-level allowance with No. 3 Sparkling Style, No. 4 Twitter Pie, No. 5 Pink Blossom and No. 6 With a Miracle.
Recap – (2,3) w (1,3,6) w (1,3,6) w (1,2,5,6) w (3,4,5,6) – Total cost of ticket = $144
Yesterday’s Result – (-$192)
Total for current Hollywood Park spring/summer meet – (+$785.10)
Total from 7/20/11 – 4/22/12 – (+$2,150.80)
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Good luck!
