American Freedom, Follow Me Crev key to Late Pick 4 at Santa Anita

The $500,000 Gold Cup at Santa Anita (G1) highlights the Late Pick 4 (Races 6-9) and I will use American Freedom and Follow Me Crev on my tickets. The former should be primed for a top showing after a less-than-favorable trip in his return while the latter is eligible to receive a perfect set-up behind a hot pace.

Here are my thoughts on the sequence:

Race 6: Tough to throw many out of this entry-level allowance and I will include six runners.

Race 7, Monrovia (G2): Grade 1 winner #4 Illuminant runs well down the hill and Cal-bred course specialist #8 Enola Gray is the main rival.

#1 Swift Lady, #3 Watch This Cat, #7 Paquita Coqueta and #9 Anita Partner will be used on a back-up ticket.

Race 8, Gold Cup: After concluding 2016 with a pair of seconds in the Haskell (G1) and Travers (G1), #1 American Freedom is eligible to come on at age 4 for Bob Baffert. He adds blinkers after experiencing a wide trip against a wire-to-wire winner who rode an inside bias and will be up close from the start. #2 Follow Me Crev enters in career-best form with BRIS Late Pace Ratings of 106 and 104 in recent starts. He’s a threat to run past rivals in latter stages.

Race 9: #2 Lucky Soul missed the break but offered a fine run for third behind next-out stakes winner Arms Runner in his debut. Look for him to take a big step forward today.

Will spread with #1 Ziconic, #3 Miner’s Light, #4 Awesome Heights, #5 Ample Sufficiency and #10 Oregon.

Late Pick 4 Tickets (Races 6-9)

Here are the 50-cent Late Pick 4 tickets I will be playing:

Ticket 1: 3,4,5,6,8,9 with 4,8 with 1,2 with 1,2,3,4,5,10 ($72)

Ticket 2: 3,4,5,6,8,9 with 1,3,7,9 with 1,2 with 2 ($24)

Total Budget: $96

Good luck!