Pick 4 of the Week: Oaklawn Park Sunday, March 1

The two graded stakes races on the big card at Oaklawn Park on Sunday will be a part of the Pick 4 of the Week.

Race 9 Wager

• $1 Pick 4: 2,9 with 2,11 with 2,3,4,7 with 4,7 ($32)

Race 9 – Honeybee (G3)

A cast of 10 sophomore fillies will run 1 1/16 miles in the opening leg of the play. Bob Baffert’s #9 Explora (7-5) will be a single on many tickets, and deservedly so. The high-quality Grade 2 victress has finished first or second while facing top foes in each of her six career runs to date and is the clear one to beat. The Blame lass drilled a bullet five-eighths in her latest morning spin and will have Flavien Prat in the silks. 

I’ll also use the Brad Cox-trained #2 Sneaky Good (8-1) for some coverage in the case that the top pick fails to fire her best shot. The Sandpiper S. starlet was third in the Forward Gal (G3) at Gulfstream Park last time, and I feel that she is itching to travel two turns. Irad will pilot the Into Mischief three-year-old. 

Race 10 – Maiden Special Weight

Eleven three-year-olds will trek 1 1/16 miles in the second portion of the sequence in a cast that lacks a standout. The Brad Cox-trained #2 Gethsemane (5-2) ran evenly in his route debut behind subsequent allowance winner Reagan’s Honor at Fair Grounds and makes sense in the big cast. The $425,000 Knicks Go sophomore will have Irad in the stirrups, and I expect the colt to peak while making his third lifetime run in the wide-open event. 

#11 Dragones (8-1), a $1.7 million yearling purchase, was a smart runner-up on the oval in his local bow on Jan. 2 and will be dangerous with even slight improvement from the outside post. Jose Ortiz has the assignment. 

Race 11 – Rebel (G2)

The $1 million feature for three-year-old boys came up deep with nine set to go postward. Breeders’ Futurity (G1) runner-up #4 Blackout Time (8-5) is the one to beat and wouldn’t be a surprise in the contest for McPeek. I feel that the Not This Time colt has a super bright future and will be strong in his sophomore debut. 

But I respect a lot of the runners in this field too, and will spread in the third leg. Los Alamitos Futurity (G2) victor #2 Litmus Test (7-2), Todd Pletcher’s intriguing #3 Class President (10-1), and Southwest (G3) hero #7 Silent Tactic (9-2) also merit inclusion in the headliner. 

Race 12 – Maiden Special Weight

A full field of Arkansas-bred fillies will vie in a six-furlong dash in the finale. I feel as though four-year-olds have a major edge on their sophomore counterparts at this time of the season, and I will use the pair of ‘older’ runners in the group despite them having to tote additional weight. William Martin’s #4 Sky High Angel (10-1) and morning-line choice #7 Like a Diamond (8-5) are the ones.