Monday’s Best Bets and Quick Picks: Gulfstream’s $26,025 Pick 6 mandatory payout

Handicapper J. Keeler Johnson shares best bets and quick picks for Monday, July 20 at Presque Isle Downs, along with a horse to single in Gulfstream Park’s mandatory-payout $26,025 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.
• 8x Rewards Points at Woodbine Mohawk: Opt in and receive 8x rewards points on all wagers at Woodbine Mohawk each racing day in July.

Today’s TwinSpires tournaments include:

• $80 Parx Feeder to 7/24 Saratoga KDBC/BCBC Bonus Feeder
• $60 Presque Isle Downs Bet and Set Feeder to 7/26 Saratoga NHC Qualifier
• $40 Presque Isle Downs Challenge
• $40 Mountaineer Challenge
• $88 Mountaineer Feeder to 7/31 Saratoga SSBC Bonus Feeder

Best Bets and Quick Picks

Presque Isle Downs: Race 1: Maiden Special Weight (six furlongs on Tapeta, 3:30 p.m. ET)

Unraced three-year-old #1 Loan Me a Dime (3-1) enters off a series of fast workouts for hot trainer Ron Potts, a 24% winner at Presque Isle Downs this meet and a respectable 16% winner with first-time starters.

On June 23, Loan Me a Dime breezed a bullet half-mile in :47. On July 7, he clocked five furlongs in :59 2/5. Then last Tuesday, he traveled half a mile from the starting gate in :47 3/5.

Loan Me a Dime is slated to be ridden by Huber Villa-Gomez, a 36% winner teaming up with Potts over the last two months. All signs suggest Loan Me a Dime is sitting on a competitive debut, so let’s bet him to win and single him to start a Pick 3.

Selections

• #1 Loan Me a Dime (3-1)
• #5 Sticktotheplanman (5-2)
• #4 Stanz Coming (7-2)

Wagers

• $20 to win on #1 Loan Me a Dime
• $5 Pick 3: 1 with 1 with 3
  Total: $25

Presque Isle Downs: Race 2: $6,250 Claiming (six furlongs on Tapeta, 3:57 p.m. ET)

#1 Leigh’s Last Hero (10-1) is an intriguing longshot in this $6,250 claimer for horses who haven’t won three races. In his last start on Tapeta, on April 25 at Gulfstream Park, he rallied to win an $8,000 claimer for horses who hadn’t won two races.

We’ll forgive Leigh’s Last Hero’s subsequent defeats against $10,000 claiming competition on dirt. Returning to Tapeta for a $6,250 claimer might be all Leigh’s Last Hero needs to spring a surprise, so let’s bet him to win and single him to start a daily double.

Selections

• #1 Leigh’s Last Hero (10-1)
• #2 Turf Cat (3-1)
• #7 Gift Exchange (7-2)

Wagers

• $20 to win on #1 Leigh’s Last Hero
• $5 Double: 1 with 3
  Total: $25

Presque Isle Downs: Race 3: $50,000 Allowance Optional Claiming (6 1/2 furlongs on Tapeta, 4:24 p.m. ET)

#3 Mitole Magic (2-1) has cracked the trifecta in seven of her last eight starts at Presque Isle, with her lone miss being a sixth-place finish against tougher competition in the Presque Isle Downs Masters (G2). Her last three tries against non-stakes competition have produced two wins in $40,000 allowance optional claimers and a runner-up finish in a $62,500 allowance optional claimer.

Mitole Magic looks like a perfect fit for Monday’s conditions, so let’s load up with a win bet and single her to conclude our double and Pick 3 wagers.

Selections

• #3 Mitole Magic (2-1)
• #1 Austere (9-5)
• #2 Candy Reward (7-1)

Wagers

• $30 to win on #3 Mitole Magic

Carryover Watch

Gulfstream Park: Race 4: $26,025 Pick 6 mandatory payout (1:47 p.m. ET)

Mondays are mandatory payout days at Gulfstream Park this summer. Each Monday card is highlighted by a mandatory payout of the jackpot carryover in the 20-cent Rainbow Pick 6.

This Monday, the carryover stands at $26,025, and Gulfstream Park anticipates the final pool will reach $400,000.

Before scratches, the Rainbow Pick 6 sequence features 55 horses (averaging nearly 9.2 per race) and 500,094 possible outcomes.

Bettors searching for a single to build tickets around are advised to check out #1 Jayhawk (8-5) in Race 9, the final leg of the sequence.

Best single: Race 9: #1 Jayhawk (8-5)

Race 9 is a $20,000 claimer for older horses racing one mile on turf. The conditions should perfectly suit Jayhawk, who enters with a three-race win streak.

Jayhawk was claimed in January by trainer Bobby Dibona. In his first start for Dibona, he finished sixth in a $35,000 maiden claimer over the Gulfstream turf. But then he switched to Tapeta and dropped in class for a 1 1/16-mile $20,000 claimer, and after pressing the pace in second place, he took over to win by three-quarters of a length.

Back on the Gulfstream grass, Jayhawk rattled off two more wins for Dibona, taking a one-mile $20,000 claimer by a neck and a one-mile $35,000 claimer by 1 1/2 lengths. In the latter race, he led for most of the journey and repulsed a challenger to triumph by 1 1/2 lengths.

Jayhawk hasn’t raced since April 30, but he enters Monday’s contest off a pair of quick five-furlong workouts at Gulfstream Park, suggesting he’ll be ready to roll off the freshening. It helps that Dibona wins at a solid 16% rate with horses returning from layoffs of 46-90 days

Dropping back down to the $20,000 level cements Jayhawk as the horse to beat. He owns the best string of recent Brisnet Speed ratings in the field (four straight in the 81-88 range), and for good measure he’s drawn the rail, which has produced 16% winners in one-mile grass races at Gulfstream since Nov. 27. Bettors can feel good about their chances for success while singling Jayhawk to conclude the Rainbow Pick 6.

Good luck!