Friday’s Best Bets and Quick Picks: Stakes double at Remington Park

Handicapper J. Keeler Johnson shares best bets and quick picks for Friday, Sept. 6 at Del Mar and Remington Park, along with a single for the $5,022 Pick 6 carryover at Colonial Downs.

Today’s special offers from TwinSpires include:

• Colonial Downs Friday $2,500 Late Pick 5 Hit It & Split It: Hit the Late Pick 5 on Friday at Colonial Downs to win your share of a $2,500 prize pool.
• Del Mar 25% Double Down: Hit two daily double wagers at Del Mar to receive a 25% boost on all your winning daily double wagers for the day at Del Mar.

Best Bets and Quick Picks

Del Mar: Race 3: Maiden Special Weight (one mile on turf, 7 p.m. ET)

#10 Aleramo (5-2) debuted with a runner-up finish racing about 7 1/2 furlongs on turf at Leopardstown in Ireland. She was beaten only a neck in an 18-horse field.

A well-bred daughter of early-maturing Coventry (G2) winner Arizona, who placed in multiple Group 1 races at age two, Aleramo should have every chance to graduate in her North American debut. The fact she’s picking up Del Mar’s leading jockey Juan Hernandez cements Aleramo as worthy of a win bet.

Selections

• #10 Aleramo (5-2)
• #3 Abazaami (4-1)
• #2 Queen Kimbe (12-1)

Wagers

• $25 to win on #10 Aleramo

Remington Park: Race 7: Oklahoma Stallion Fillies H. (seven furlongs on dirt, 10:24 p.m. ET)

#3 Miss Code West (1-2) has won six of her seven starts on dirt. She’s 4-for-4 at Remington Park and 3-for-3 facing Oklahoma-bred competition. Four of her wins have come against stakes competition, including in the non-state-restricted Trapeze S. over a mile at Remington last year.

Returning to Remington (and the Oklahoma-bred ranks) for the Oklahoma Stallion Fillies H. should make Miss Code West mighty tough to beat. Let’s single her to start a double wager.

Selections

• #3 Miss Code West (1-2)
• #2 Xyngin Spitfire (3-1)
• #4 Rainbow Angel (8-1)

Wagers

• $30 Double: 3 with 4

Remington Park: Race 8: Oklahoma Stallion Colts and Geldings H. (seven furlongs on dirt, 10:53 p.m. ET)

#4 Flat Hanby (4-5) is undefeated in four starts this year, including two stakes. At Canterbury Park, he survived a duel to win the one-mile Canterbury Derby by six lengths with a 90 Brisnet Speed rating. At Prairie Meadows, he rallied after a troubled start to win the restricted Iowa Stallion S. racing one mile and 70 yards, earning an 82 Speed rating.

None of Flat Hanby’s rivals have earned a Brisnet Speed rating higher than 86, so a peak performance from the favorite should be sufficient to secure a third stakes win. We’ll single Flat Hanby to conclude our double wager and key him over #2 Okie Smoke (4-1) in the exacta for good measure.

Selections

• #4 Flat Hanby (4-5)
• #2 Okie Smoke (4-1)
• #3 Chasin Jason (5-1)

Wagers

• $20 Exacta: 4 with 2

Carryover Watch

Colonial Downs: Race 6: $5,022 Pick 6 carryover (5:44 p.m. ET)

The ever-elusive $1 “Old Dominion 6” Pick 6 at Colonial Downs went unsolved again on Thursday. The last time anyone assembled a winning ticket was Aug. 24; five cards have gone by since then without anyone hitting the Pick 6, producing a quintuple carryover worth $5,022 for Friday’s card.

There’s no guarantee the wager will be hit on Friday either. Before scratches and counting two also-eligible entrants, the six races have drawn 64 horses, averaging about 10.7 per race. Each race contains at least eight horses. The resulting number of possible Pick 6 outcomes is impressive: 1,300,992, which drops only marginally to 1,115,136 if you exclude the also-eligibles.

If you’re planning to chase the carryover and need a single to build tickets around, take a look at #3 Determind Princess (3-2) in race 6, the opening leg of the Pick 6. It’s a $30,000 claimer for Virginia-restricted fillies and mares who have never won two races, a class level that should suit Determind Princess to perfection.

Race 6 is taking place over 1 1/16 miles on turf, and Determind Princess has run reasonably well over similar configurations in recent starts. On July 5 at Laurel Park, she finished only 3 1/2 lengths behind the winner of a 1 1/16-mile turf allowance. On July 25 over the Colonial Downs lawn, she improved to third place in a one-mile Virginia-restricted allowance. She then finished fifth over the same course, distance, and class level on Aug. 22.

Dropping into the claiming ranks should make Determind Princess formidable. Her last two Brisnet Speed ratings (77 and 76) are sharp, and none of her seven Friday rivals have ever earned higher than 79 on grass. If Determind Princess improves at all while facing easier competition, she can cruise to victory under hot jockey Victor Carrasco, a 24% winner at Colonial Downs this meet.

In a challenging Pick 6 with more than a million ways to play, singling Determind Kingdom is a solid first step toward assembling a competitive ticket on a reasonable budget.

Good luck!