TDN's Steve Sherack and Brian DiDonato will make $50 Win/Place bets on each Kentucky Derby prep and Triple Crown race. The handicapper with the highest bankroll after the Belmont Stakes wins. Scratches will result in the post time favorite.
GII Rebel S. – Well, this is getting ugly… Cherry Wine was a bit too far behind early and came running late to finish a decent fourth… May have to start rooting for some more scratches to cash another ticket in this thing. Total: $337.50.
Sunland Park Festival of Racing S. – Even with the big three from the Bob Baffert, Todd Pletcher and Doug O'Neill barns all receiving plenty of class relief here, I still have my share of knocks against each of them to look elsewhere for a price. Triple Crown nominee Walk Out, an impressive last-to-first allowance winner with blinkers added against a small field at Sam Houston last time, isn't impossible with another leap forward. The son of Curlin should relish the added distance to nine furlongs and he has continued to show improvement with each trip to the post this term since returning from a three-month hiatus. Worked an easy four furlongs over this course in :50 4/5 Mar. 15. Selection: #4 Walk Out (10-1).
GII Rebel S. – Cupid was bet pretty hard down to 5-2, and I wasn't happy to see him on the lead early, but he was super impressive shutting the door on Whitmore. Total: $1052.50.
Sunland Park Festival of Racing S. – Even though the Sunland Derby was cancelled and this replacement race doesn't offer any Kentucky Derby qualifying points, we decided to handicap it anyway… I started by tossing the top three choices on the morning line–the three main out-of-towners from the big barns. The purse for this race ($415K) is obviously still enticing, but I took it as somewhat of a negative that those three horses were kind of being ruled out as legitimate Derby candidates by showing up here. Then I had to pick between two longshots: Walk Out (Curlin), a clear winner of a Sam Houston allowance last time; and Bruntino (Colonel John), who finished fifth as the favorite against a bunch of these rivals last time in the Mine That Bird S. I went with the latter, a great grandson of Sky Beauty from the family of Violence, despite his career Beyer top of only 59. He made a completely ridiculous six-wide middle move last time after breaking slowly–hopefully he works out a better trip this time, and some of the bigger names fail to bring their best. Selection: #3 Bruntino (12-1).
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