Longshots might boost Saturday's Late Pick 3 at Oaklawn

After the opening weekend (January 9-11) at Oaklawn was canceled due to inclement weather, horsemen have been anxious to get racing at the Hot Springs, Arkansas, oval this week. Of the nine races carded for Saturday, seven have full fields of 12, one has 10, and the featured $100,000 Pippin Stakes will have nine fillies and mares.

Here's a quick rundown of the final three races (7-9) encompassing the final 50-cent Pick 3 of the day.

Race 7 -- Allowance

I expect Indian Annie (#9) to go off lower than her 9-2 morning line price after winning a November 22 maiden at Fair Grounds in relatively quick time. The three-year-old filly's dam is a half-sister to champion juvenile colt Uncle Mo, so this daughter of Indian Charlie should find the stretch-out from six furlongs to a mile within her scope.

Embellish the Lace (#4) is thought of as a potential candidate for some of the major three-year-old filly stakes this meet by trainer Tony Dutrow following her 10 1/4-length demolition of maiden rivals at Parx. By hot sire Super Saver, she's an intriguing prospect going forward.

A couple longshots to consider are Tasseography (#10), whose belated rallies in her last two might have been compromised by the wide trips she was enduring, and Canadian invader Sweet Corinna (#12), who's posted several above-average works over this track in the last month.

Race 8 -- Pippin Stakes

The Karl Broberg-trained Honey's Ryan (#9) might be the one to catch after leading all the way in the $100,000 She's All In Handicap at Remington last out, but stablemate Diva's Diamond (#3) also has a lot to recommend her having captured the $100,000 Iowa Distaff last June.

Haunted Heroine (#7), a daughter of Ghostzapper making her stakes debut, enters off back-to-back allowance wins in Kentucky and does own a bit of back class. When she broke her maiden at Fair Grounds in December 2013, she defeated Euphrosyne, who subsequently won the G3 Honeybee here and placed in the Martha Washington and G3 Fantasy.

Mufajaah (#2) is another whose best days are probably ahead of her. She won twice in four outings during the 2014 Oaklawn meet, and failed to reach contention in the Fantasy mostly because she was pinched back at the start. Her allowance win at Churchill two starts back was strong.

Race 9 -- Maiden Special Weight

Tapit Wicked (#1) figures to be heavily backed after running second in three straight outings last fall at Churchill Downs and Keeneland, but there's a couple colts here that might surprise with forward progress.

Raagheb (#3) was beaten less than five lengths in his debut, adds Lasix here, and has posted some decent works over this strip for trainer Daniel Peitz.

Tarasenko (#12) lost all chance in his debut at Indiana Grand when taken up at the start, but showed vast improvement next out when finishing second over Arlington's Polytrack strip. Trainer Scott Becker wins at a high clip (26 percent in 2014) and is strong off layoffs of more than 90 days (23 percent).

50-cent Pick 3

Ticket - $24

4,9,10,12/2,3,7,9/1,3,12

Here's hoping one or more of the longshots we like can come through and boost the payoff of this Pick 3, our first of the meet.