Horse Racing: At Oaklawn, Garrity hopes to stay Hot as the Springs

Our peripatetic traipse around the country, stopping at noteworthy racing ovals, today takes us to Oaklawn Park. The forecast in Hot Springs, Arkansas, is iffy: It's one of those 50%-chance-of-rain deals, but the rain is supposed to come after racing hours, mostly, so we are handicapping the card assuming that the rain will not come, and all picks below are, except where noted, made with the assumption that the track will be fast (Oaklawn has no turf course, and all races are on dirt).

We'll jump right in with Race 4 (3:52 pm Eastern), which is a 6-furlong, $25,000 maiden claimer for Arkansas-breds three and up. 8-Babadoook, is a strong win play here: He ran competitively in a Maiden Special race a month ago, and now drops in against maiden claimers, which is, as we've noted here repeatedly, the biggest class drop in racing. Facing a very weak field, he should control this race from start to finish: He may stalk, he may set the pace, but either way we think he is well in front when they hit the wire. We'll bet $20 on Babadoook at 7/2 on the morning line. We'll also bet $10 on him in the Race 4 Double, with 1-Sure Thing Sheila from the 5th race, who's 7/5, and who looks overwhelmingly like the winner.

In the 7th (5:14 pm Eastern), we don't have a fast-track pick, but we do have one if the track comes up wet: It's 4-Point Streak, at 8-1. He broke his maiden at Oaklawn two weeks ago; on a fast track, he's probably not good enough to win here. But on a sloppy track, we think he may be primed for a repeat performance, so take him if the going ends up wet.

The 8th (5:42 pm Eastern) is a good race, a six-furlong dirt sprint allowance for three-year-old fillies. There's a standout here, and it's 7-Carrizo. She towers over this field from a figure standpoint, and figures to win at very short odds. We'll throw $10 on her to win, and hope we get anything close to her 6/5 morning line price, and we'll also play a straight $10 exacta with her on top, and 6-Lunar Orbit (4-1) in second. We will also play a $10 double, with Carrizo in the 8th and (see below) 5-New Colossus in the 9th. That's a cold 7-5 ticket in the double.

The 9th at Oaklawn is another good race, another allowance, this one for older males. There's another standout here: 5-New Colossus woke up going around two turns for the first time, and a repeat of this performance means the rest of the field is running strictly for second money. We'll take 7/5 on the chalk, and bet $20 to win on New Colossus.

That's it for today. Good luck at the windows.