Friday’s Best Bets and Quick Picks: Opening day at Keeneland

Handicapper J. Keeler Johnson shares best bets and quick picks for Friday, April 3 at Keeneland, along with a horse to single in Aqueduct’s $17,241 Pick 6 carryover.

Today’s special offers from TwinSpires include:

• New Players $200 Sign-Up Bonus: Open your TwinSpires.com account using the offer code BET200 to start earning a $200 bonus.
• $2,000 Win Ladder at Keeneland: Hit $10+ single-horse win wagers at Keeneland to climb the Win Ladder and compete for your share of a $2,000 prize pool each racing Thursday and Friday in April.
• SkyWorld Racing Late Pick 4 Insurance: Receive up to $50 back on your Late Pick 4 wagers at select Australian tracks if you have three out of four winning legs.

Today’s TwinSpires tournaments include:

• $65 Keeneland Bet and Set Feeder to 4/18 Preakness Preview Day Handicapping Challenge
• $400 Keeneland Bonus Feeder Friday to 4/4 Blue Grass KDBC Qualifier
• $40 Keeneland Challenge
• $100 Keeneland Challenge
• $700 Keeneland Feeder to 4/11 Keeneland Grade One Gamble
• $200 Oaklawn Feeder to 4/12 Keeneland KDBC Qualifier

Best Bets and Quick Picks

Keeneland: Race 1: Maiden Special Weight (4 1/2 furlongs on dirt, 1:00 p.m. ET)

The opening race of the Keeneland spring meet is a 4 1/2-furlong dash for two-year-olds. Trainer Wesley Ward dominates these early-season juvenile sprints, and he can snag another win with #6 Waggley (7-5), from the first crop of foals sired by Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1) and Pegasus World Cup (G1) winner Life Is Good.

Waggley enters off fast workouts at Keeneland, including a bullet three furlongs from the starting gate in :35 4/5, and she’s slated to be ridden by Joel Rosario, who has guided many of Ward’s juvenile winners at Keeneland in recent years.

Let’s place a large win bet on Waggley and key her over #2 Joe Joe Dude (4-1) in an exacta. Joe Joe Dude enters off back-to-back bullet three-furlong workouts at Keeneland.

Selections

• #6 Waggley (7-5)
• #2 Joe Joe Dude (4-1)
• #8 Suspicions (3-1)

Wagers

• $40 to win on #6 Waggley
• $10 Exacta: 6 with 2
  Total: $50

Keeneland: Race 4: Maiden Special Weight (6 1/2 furlongs, 2:36 p.m. ET)

Unraced three-year-old #8 Lady Diversity (9-2) enters off fast workouts for trainer Cherie DeVaux, who went 1-for-3 (33%) debuting sophomores at Keeneland during the 2025 spring meet. On March 13, Lady Diversity blazed a bullet half-mile from the Keeneland starting gate in :47.

Lady Diversity is a daughter of Outwork, who sires a strong 15% winners from first-time starters, and her dam is Tipperary Moon, who previously foaled the early-maturing, stakes-placed sprinter Upset Brewing. All signs suggest Lady Diversity can deliver a competitive debut, so let’s place a win bet on the bay filly.

Selections

• #8 Lady Diversity (9-2)
• #5 Only Me (5-1)
• #12 Where Luck Lives (10-1)

Wagers

• $25 to win on #8 Lady Diversity

Keeneland: Race 5: Lafayette S. (seven furlongs on dirt, 3:08 p.m. ET)

#2 Knock It Off (2-1) is unbeaten in two starts, both sprinting six furlongs at Fair Grounds. First, he wired a maiden special weight by 1 1/4 lengths over next-out winner #4 Trouble Calling (7-2). Then he led all the way to take a $125,000 allowance optional claimer by 2 3/4 lengths.

With Brisnet Speed ratings of 97 and 93 under his belt, Knock It Off looks like a talented prospect with a big chance to shine in the Lafayette. We’ll bet him to win and play him over Road to the Kentucky Derby alumnus #6 Carson Street (8-1) in an exacta.

Selections

• #2 Knock It Off (2-1)
• #6 Carson Street (8-1)
• #4 Trouble Calling (7-2)

Wagers

• $24 to win on #2 Knock It Off
• $6 Exacta: 2 with 6
  Total: $30

Carryover Watch

Aqueduct: Race 3: $17,241 Pick 6 carryover (2:11 p.m. ET)

On the eve of a stakes-packed Saturday at Aqueduct, Friday’s $1 Pick 6 at the New York oval boasts a non-jackpot $17,241 carryover.

The Pick 6 spans Race 3 through Race 8. Mathematically speaking, it’s a straightforward sequence to handicap. The six races have drawn a combined 41 horses, averaging about 6.8 per race, and there are only 98,784 possible outcomes—a modest number for a Pick 6.

If you’re looking for a single to build tickets around, we recommend siding with #4 Who’s Your Zaddy (9-5) right off the bat in Race 3, a $40,000 maiden optional claimer for New York-bred three-year-olds racing one mile over the main track.

Who’s Your Zaddy debuted with a fine performance over this track, distance, and class level on Feb. 14. He raced in fourth place during the early stages of the race, advanced to second place with a wide rally around the turn, and then stayed on to finish clearly second-best, beaten only 1 3/4 lengths while pulling 10 3/4 lengths clear of the third-place finisher.

Who’s Your Zaddy’s performance is all the more impressive when you consider how the rail seemed advantageous at Aqueduct on Feb. 14. Who’s Your Zaddy raced against the grain of the track and still delivered a strong showing.

Hot trainer Amelia Green wins at a respectable 15% rate with second-time starters, so Who’s Your Zaddy is eligible to move forward on Friday, especially after breezing a bullet five furlongs over the Belmont Park training track in 1:01 1/5 on March 20. The presence of jockey Jaime Rodriguez, who has gone 6-for-10 (60%) teaming up with Green over the last two months, cements Who’s Your Zaddy as a compelling choice.

By singling Who’s Your Zaddy in the Pick 6, we can reduce the number of possible outcomes to consider from 98,784 down to 16,464. That’s an excellent start toward assembling a winning ticket.

Good luck!