Player Quick Pick: Santa Anita for 4/12/2014
by D.S. Williamson
It should be a beautiful day at the Great Race Place, Santa Anita Park, on Saturday, April 12. Two stakes make up a part of the nine races but we look at only one of them, the Grade 3 Las Cienegas. Race 6, an $80,000 optional claimer, is the other race that we analyze.
Santa Anita 5 | 5:32 pm ET G3 Las Cienegas for 4&up F&M 6.5f (T)
4 – Biorythmn – I don’t often like to bet on 2/1 shots going down the hill, but this guy was absolutely sensational in a $62K optional claimer in his last. Jockey Drayden Van Dyke is money when riding over Santa Anita’s downhill turf course and trainer Thomas Proctor has 19 victories out of 67 starters for a 28% win rate. Biorythmn is simply too fast for her main competition, Sky High Gal. That one, because of Rafael Bejarano, might go off as the favorite making Biorythmn even more attractive for a win play and the key in the trifecta.
6 – Tribal Spy – The Adam Kitchingman trainee was terrific when winning a $100K straight bred race in her last. She isn’t as fast as Biorythmn and it’s likely that jockey Joe Talamo knows that, meaning that he’ll let Rafa try to go after Biorythmn on the front end with Sky High Gal. That should put Tribal Spy right in the garden spot. If Sky High Gal falters, which could happen in a speed duel with the top pick, then Tribal Spy figures to pick up the pieces and run for second.
2 – Macaabra – Jockey Brice Blanc has been riding down the hill at Santa Anita for years. He knows how to get the job done and this filly, which looked pretty good winning an allowance race over the downhill turf in January, has been training well for a hot trainer, Gary Mandella. Sky High Gal will have to throw in the towel, but if she does, then I can see Macaabra making her way into the tri.
Santa Anita 6 | 6:05 pm ET Optional Claiming (80) for 3yo going 7f
9 – True Ten – As the 2 to 1 favorite in his last, this son of Rock Hard Ten went three wide into the stretch and looked like he was going to make a bid, but he flattened out. Trainer Vladimir Cerin puts him in this ultra-tough 7f race, which might be more to his liking. Having Rafael Bejarano on his back won’t hurt and Bejarano and Cerin have a $1.93 ROI. Rafa should get a nice trip aboard True Ten in this event.
4 – Papa Turf – Horseplayers will be lucky if they get 5 to 1 on this fourth-place finisher in the Hollywood Prevue back in November. Papa Turf couldn’t hang with Kobe’s Back in the San Vicente, but he did look good when finishing third to The Admiral and FriendswithKMill in an allowance race in his last. That race puts him right there in this.
2 – Ferocious – Trainer Ron Ellis is winning at 28% with his horses this Santa Anita meet. Ferocious broke his maiden by only a head in his last race, but he’s a $300,000 purchase sired by Tale of the Cat. He could improve big time in this and if he does, everybody else might be running for second.
It should be a beautiful day at the Great Race Place, Santa Anita Park, on Saturday, April 12. Two stakes make up a part of the nine races but we look at only one of them, the Grade 3 Las Cienegas. Race 6, an $80,000 optional claimer, is the other race that we analyze.
Santa Anita 5 | 5:32 pm ET G3 Las Cienegas for 4&up F&M 6.5f (T)
4 – Biorythmn – I don’t often like to bet on 2/1 shots going down the hill, but this guy was absolutely sensational in a $62K optional claimer in his last. Jockey Drayden Van Dyke is money when riding over Santa Anita’s downhill turf course and trainer Thomas Proctor has 19 victories out of 67 starters for a 28% win rate. Biorythmn is simply too fast for her main competition, Sky High Gal. That one, because of Rafael Bejarano, might go off as the favorite making Biorythmn even more attractive for a win play and the key in the trifecta.
6 – Tribal Spy – The Adam Kitchingman trainee was terrific when winning a $100K straight bred race in her last. She isn’t as fast as Biorythmn and it’s likely that jockey Joe Talamo knows that, meaning that he’ll let Rafa try to go after Biorythmn on the front end with Sky High Gal. That should put Tribal Spy right in the garden spot. If Sky High Gal falters, which could happen in a speed duel with the top pick, then Tribal Spy figures to pick up the pieces and run for second.
2 – Macaabra – Jockey Brice Blanc has been riding down the hill at Santa Anita for years. He knows how to get the job done and this filly, which looked pretty good winning an allowance race over the downhill turf in January, has been training well for a hot trainer, Gary Mandella. Sky High Gal will have to throw in the towel, but if she does, then I can see Macaabra making her way into the tri.
Santa Anita 6 | 6:05 pm ET Optional Claiming (80) for 3yo going 7f
9 – True Ten – As the 2 to 1 favorite in his last, this son of Rock Hard Ten went three wide into the stretch and looked like he was going to make a bid, but he flattened out. Trainer Vladimir Cerin puts him in this ultra-tough 7f race, which might be more to his liking. Having Rafael Bejarano on his back won’t hurt and Bejarano and Cerin have a $1.93 ROI. Rafa should get a nice trip aboard True Ten in this event.
4 – Papa Turf – Horseplayers will be lucky if they get 5 to 1 on this fourth-place finisher in the Hollywood Prevue back in November. Papa Turf couldn’t hang with Kobe’s Back in the San Vicente, but he did look good when finishing third to The Admiral and FriendswithKMill in an allowance race in his last. That race puts him right there in this.
2 – Ferocious – Trainer Ron Ellis is winning at 28% with his horses this Santa Anita meet. Ferocious broke his maiden by only a head in his last race, but he’s a $300,000 purchase sired by Tale of the Cat. He could improve big time in this and if he does, everybody else might be running for second.
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