Pick 3 of the Week: Fair Grounds Saturday, Dec. 27

A three-race sequence concluding with one of the two black-type races on the Saturday card at Fair Grounds will make up the Pick 3 of the Week.

Pick 3 Wager: Races 3-5

• $1 Pick 3: 1,2,3,10 with 1,4,5,7 with 3,6 ($32)

Race 3 – Optional Claiming

A full field of males will travel one mile on the lawn in the first piece of the play. #10 St. Armands Key (7-2) draws outside for his second run off the claim for Mike Maker and will cut back in distance a bit in this spot. The four-year-old son of Lost Treasure sports a 4-3-0-1 mark on the course, and the bay also owns a win and a second from two lifetime runs at the distance, as well. Ben Curtis has the call. 

I’ll also include the trio of runners drawn to the inside of the well-matched group. #1 Foligno (8-1), #2 Pineland (8-1), and morning-line choice #3 Higgins Boat (3-1) are the ones. 

Race 4 – Maiden Special Weight

A total of seven will speed six panels on the dirt in the middle leg. I’m not overly excited about the trio of runners that have previously gone to post, and I surely expect that at least one of the first-time starters in the dash will be formidable on this occasion. Kenny McPeek’s #1 Favorite Day (5-2), Shadwell homebred #4 Elnajd (7-2), the Whit Beckman-trained #5 Chappelle (3-1), and Steve Asmussen’s expensive #7 Mingo (6-1) are the quartet of inclusions in leg two. 

Race 5 – Woodchopper S.

Conditioner Michael Stidham has two dangerous contenders in the final leg, and I will use both of them to close out the wager. Godolphin homebred #6 Montador (2-1) is the one to beat coming off a nice try in the Commonwealth Turf (G3) at Churchill Downs last time out. The Nyquist colt has never run a bad one and has the tactical speed to get first run on the deeper closing types in the group. 

Stidham’s #3 Juris Doctor (3-1) was a clear second in a good allowance run on this surface last time and will be equipped with blinkers on this occasion. The $450,000 son of Constitution will be tough, even with a slight improvement under Axel Concepcion.