Picks for tournaments, $67,675 Pick 6 carryover at Churchill, Santa Anita

Handicapper J. Keeler Johnson shares horses to play in two TwinSpires tournaments and a lucrative Pick 6 carryover on Saturday at Churchill Downs and Santa Anita.

Churchill Downs tournaments on TwinSpires.com

There are two different TwinSpires tournaments to play at Churchill Downs on Saturday.

For only $70, you can join the $70 Churchill Downs Challenge, which requires you to bet your entire $50 bankroll across at least five races at Churchill Downs to compete for cash prizes. If there are 25 entries, the winner will receive $375; if there are 50 entries, the winner will take home $600.

For $160, you can participate in the $160 Churchill Downs Feeder to 5/18 Churchill Downs SFBC Qualifier. To climb the leaderboard in this tournament—which will award at least one entry into the May 18 $400 Churchill Downs SFBC Qualifier tournament—you’ll need to bet your $80 bankroll across at least five races at Churchill Downs (minimum $8 per race).

One horse we definitely recommend playing is #10 Wedding Mood (5-2) in Race 5, a maiden special weight for fillies and mares racing one mile on turf. The beautifully bred daughter of Wootton Bassett out of the Galileo mare Snow started her career in France before transferring to trainer Brian Lynch in the United States. She made her stateside debut in a 1 1/16-mile maiden special weight at Keeneland last month, in which she settled midfield and rallied to lead before staying on for second place by 1 1/2 lengths.

That effort yielded an 84 Brisnet Speed rating, three points higher than the par winning number for Saturday’s conditions at Churchill Downs. If Wedding Mood improves at all in her second start of the year, she’ll be tough to beat, so tournament players should consider betting Wedding Mood to win and/or keying her over Keeneland maiden special weight runner-up #2 Gum (7-2) in an exacta.

$67,675 Pick 6 carryover at Santa Anita

Thanks to a $67,675 carryover, the final pool for Saturday’s $2 Pick 6 at Santa Anita is expected to reach the $500,000 range.

The Pick 6 gets underway in Race 4 (post time 5:36 p.m. ET), but bettors seeking a single to build tickets around should check out Race 6, a 6 1/2-furlong dirt maiden special weight. Second-time starter #3 Sierra Silver (9-5) looks tough to beat for the red-hot jockey/trainer duo of Juan Hernandez and Bob Baffert, who have gone 11-for-24 (46%) teaming up together over the last two months.

Sierra Silver earned a sharp 92 Brisnet Speed rating when debuting in a six-furlong maiden special weight on April 6. On that occasion, he dueled for the lead before tiring to finish third by 3 3/4 lengths against a pair of next-out winners. The first-place finisher, Goal Oriented, returned to win a $125,000 allowance optional claimer at Churchill Downs and is expected to enter next week’s Preakness (G1).

Chances are, Sierra Silver will catch a somewhat easier field in his second start, setting the stage for a winning performance.

Good luck!