Pick 5 Preview: Arlington Park - Saturday, May 25, 2013
The Saturday card at Arlington Park is outstanding; three graded stake races will be run kicking off their summer stakes series, which culminates with the Secretariat, Beverly D and Arlington Million. First things first though as we start with the Matron, Hanshin Cup and Classic.
The Matron kicks off the 50-cent pick-5 and includes the other two stakes and since we took a look at the three as part of this week's Player's Edge, let's see the remaining two races in the sequence. Race eight is a low-level claiming race on the main Polytrack, which drew a field of 12.
The lukewarm favorite for the race at 4-1 is Proud Jackson, a four-year-old colt that just won a similar race by four and one-half lengths. He drew post 12 and is likely to start as the favorite, but that was such a huge race and it was his first win in 10 starts over the track so he may be worth a gamble against. Most will use the other morning line choices; Mosquillo, Double Silver and Strongest Link. Don't sleep on Clout, Fort Defiance and Gamblin Jack, who are all 8-1 or higher. Clout drew the rail and should be ready to roll in his only his third start since late December.
The next two races are the Hanshin Cup and Arlington Classic then a claiming race on the turf ends the Saturday card. It is another wide-open affair with the morning line favorite, Morioba, a filly that finished last by 46 lengths in her prior start.
Morioba began her career with a maiden claiming win at double digit odds over the Tampa turf then was put into a starter allowance race over the Polytrack at Keeneland. Apparently something was amiss, but she has come back with a four furlong workout and was good enough to be a debut winner for a trainer who does not win often with first-time-starters. There are plenty of positives and negatives so the ticket should probably include some others and the best of those may be Jukebox Gem for trainer Ingrid Mason. Jukebox Gem ran well in her turf debut earlier in the month and looks to have retained her fitness with a solid four-furlong workout on May 15. Others to consider are Coaming, Mission Storm and Givenchi. Givenchi and Mission Storm just finished two-three in a race at this same class level, both are closers.
It definitely is an interesting sequence and if the pick-5 play is out of the budget, play the pick-4, which starts in race eight. First post in Chicago is 2:00 pm ET with the Matron off at 5:08 and race eight at 5:38.
The Matron kicks off the 50-cent pick-5 and includes the other two stakes and since we took a look at the three as part of this week's Player's Edge, let's see the remaining two races in the sequence. Race eight is a low-level claiming race on the main Polytrack, which drew a field of 12.
The lukewarm favorite for the race at 4-1 is Proud Jackson, a four-year-old colt that just won a similar race by four and one-half lengths. He drew post 12 and is likely to start as the favorite, but that was such a huge race and it was his first win in 10 starts over the track so he may be worth a gamble against. Most will use the other morning line choices; Mosquillo, Double Silver and Strongest Link. Don't sleep on Clout, Fort Defiance and Gamblin Jack, who are all 8-1 or higher. Clout drew the rail and should be ready to roll in his only his third start since late December.
The next two races are the Hanshin Cup and Arlington Classic then a claiming race on the turf ends the Saturday card. It is another wide-open affair with the morning line favorite, Morioba, a filly that finished last by 46 lengths in her prior start.
Morioba began her career with a maiden claiming win at double digit odds over the Tampa turf then was put into a starter allowance race over the Polytrack at Keeneland. Apparently something was amiss, but she has come back with a four furlong workout and was good enough to be a debut winner for a trainer who does not win often with first-time-starters. There are plenty of positives and negatives so the ticket should probably include some others and the best of those may be Jukebox Gem for trainer Ingrid Mason. Jukebox Gem ran well in her turf debut earlier in the month and looks to have retained her fitness with a solid four-furlong workout on May 15. Others to consider are Coaming, Mission Storm and Givenchi. Givenchi and Mission Storm just finished two-three in a race at this same class level, both are closers.
It definitely is an interesting sequence and if the pick-5 play is out of the budget, play the pick-4, which starts in race eight. First post in Chicago is 2:00 pm ET with the Matron off at 5:08 and race eight at 5:38.