How to bet the Gulfstream Park stakes races on Saturday

A pair of competitive stakes races on the lawn for the ladies highlight the Saturday card at Gulfstream Park. Each of the affairs boasts a short-priced horse on the morning-line and I feel that both are beatable. Here is how I will aim to take down the chalk in the black-type tests.

Race 6 -- Suwannee River S. (G3)

A nine-furlong affair for fillies and mares attracted eight, with one being a main track-only entrant. #3 La Signare (7-5) is the obvious class of the field, but she is no sure thing off the shelf at a short number. I will play against the talented Walsh trainee.

#2 Great Island (5-2) is a lightly-raced mare who gives me the impression of the "now" horse for Chad Brown. Chestnut five-year-old has never run a bad one on the green, and I think she is going to run a lifetime best on Saturday with the cut back in distance. Tactical sort can be put into the race early if pilot Irad Ortiz wishes to do so, which will give her first run on the short-priced favorite.

Wager

• $40 Win: #2 Great Island ($40)

Race 11 -- Ladies’ Turf Sprint S.

#7 Lady’s Island (5-2) might be the one to catch and beat, but Mike Maker’s #2 A Bit of Both (9-2) ran better than she appeared to on paper when fifth in the deep Pan Zareta S. at Fair Grounds last time out. The five-year-old Paynter mare impressed in her allowance triumph on the Keeneland turf three back, and she looms large on Saturday if she runs back to that performance. Florida-bred drilled a bullet half-mile most recently, and the bay will have Saez in the controls off the short absence.

Team Valor’s #1 Victory Kingdom (5-1) and two-time stakes heroine #8 Hear My Prayer (3-1) are each of some interest to me, and I will use both contenders on my exacta ticket.

Wagers

• $20 Win #2 A Bit of Both ($20)
• $3 Exacta Box: 1,2,8 ($18)

Bonus Play

Race 7 -- Maiden Special Weight

A loaded sprint on the dirt for three-year-olds will kick off the Rainbow 6. #11 Dupuis (5-1) is one of two first-time starters in the field for Pletcher, and I am expecting the colt to run a big one. Dark bay son of Distorted Humor brought $700,000 at OBS in the summer, and he has some really fast horses on the female side of his family. The Kentucky-bred will be ready from the start beneath Saez.