Pick 3 of the Week: Aqueduct Sunday, Nov. 16

The feature of the Sunday action at Aqueduct will kick off the Pick 3 of the Week. 

Pick 3 Wager (Races 3-5)

• $2 Pick 3: 2,5,6 with 5,7 with 1,2 ($24)

Race 3 – Pebbles S. (G3)

A total of six sophomore fillies will travel one mile on the green in the opening leg of the play. I wasn’t in favor of #5 Fast Market in the Sands Point S. (G2) last time out, but the John Terranova trainee ran a big one to finish a neck second while well clear of her nearest foe. The Volatile filly has responded well to the removal of blinkers in her last two assignments, and I won’t sleep on her in this spot with Dylan Davis riding. 

#2 It Ain’t Two has faced some tough fillies since arriving in the states and wouldn’t be a surprise to me under Johnnie V. Chad Brown’s #6 Peak Hype has the best closing kick in the group and defeated her elders in an allowance tilt here last time out. 

Race 4 – Optional Claiming 

The boys will travel nine furlongs on the lawn in the middle segment of the sequence. My top pick is #5 Exact Estimate. Trainer Brad Cox will saddle the $75,000 claim for the first time, and the Into Mischief six-year-old will be very tough with something resembling his best effort. If he didn’t run a clunker last time out, then I would single the bay with Ricardo Santana, Jr. in the stirrups. 

#7 Spirit Prince flashed fine potential at two; he didn’t progress as expected in 2024, but the Clement pupil has put in a pair of good runs this campaign in advance of Sunday. Stakes-winning son of Cairo Prince inherits Manny Franco and could be the one third time out in 2025. 

Race 5 – Maiden Special Weight

A well-bred field of eight juveniles, with five being produced from stakes winners and two from stakes-placed mares, will travel a one-turn mile on the dirt to close out the play. #2 Ottinho is a half-sister to the otherworldly Gun Runner, as well as a full-sister to 2024 Comely S. (G3) victress Pretty Ana, so I’d be foolish to leave her off the ticket. Chad Brown's trainee will have Manny Franco in the silks. 

Bill Mott’s #1 Credit History ran into a pair of costly horses when third at this distance over the surface in his second lifetime run, and makes sense to me. The Nyquist colt has an experience edge on many in the cast and will save ground throughout under Civaci.