We are heading deep in the heart of Texas today to make three plays at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas, where there’s a nine-race Monday program. We expect fast dirt and firm turf. Let’s go.
Lone Star Park, Race 4, 4:11 pm ET
$20,000 Claiming, 5 ½ furlongs, Dirt, Fillies & Mares 3 & Up
Ten go in this claiming sprint for females. We like 3-Aunt Sunshine, a lightly raced and modestly-bred 3-year-old filly from the Carl Deville barn. She has two career starts, both at Oaklawn Park, the first a straight maiden race where she was in way over her head, and finished far back; the second saw her drop to the $16,000 maiden claiming ranks, where she woke up, pressed a fast pace, and won going away, earning good speed and pace figures. We think she fits with this group, and should get a good pace-pressing trip from her inside post. The maiden races were unbelievably tough during the recently concluded Oaklawn meeting, and we think that horses coming out of them, starting at other tracks, are going to do very well. Aunt Sunshine should do well today too. We will bet her to win at 8-1. The bet: Lone Star Park, Race 4, $30 to win on 3-Aunt Sunshine.
Lone Star Park, Race 6, 5:15 pm ET
Allowance/Optional Claiming, 6 furlongs, Dirt, Fillies & Mares 3 & Up
This second-level allowance/optional claimer drew a field of eight. Two of them are coupled in the betting due to common ownership, so there are seven disparate betting interests. We like the entry, specifically 1A-Raider, who breaks from post position 8. There’s a lot of cheap speed in the field, which should set the race up for a stalker, and Raider has done her best running coming from off the pace, and her outside post is the perfect position from which to rally. She comes into this race off a layoff, but also off a good second in a minor stakes at Century Downs in Alberta. We will bet Raider to win, and we also get her 1-Ruffenuff, included in the wager. We will bet the entry to win, at 7-2 odds. The bet: Lone Star Park, Race 6, $35 to win on 1-Ruffenuff/1A-Raider.
Lone Star Park, Race 8, 6:15 pm ET
Allowance/Optional Claiming, 5 furlongs, Turf, 3 & Up
This is a second-level allowance/optional claimer on turf, and it drew a full field of twelve, with two of them running as an entry. It’s a deep and talented field.
The 7/5 morning line favorite is 3-Share the Upside, and while he’s blazingly fast, he’s never run on turf before, and a handicapping axiom that we endorse is never to take a short price on a horse trying to do something for the first time. At somewhere around even money, Share the Upside looks like an underlay to us, and we’re looking elsewhere for the winner.
This is another race where we like the entry: both both 1-Lawton and 1A-Imma Bling are trained by Karl Broberg, and though we fancy Lawton more than his Imma Bling, we think they both have a chance, and both have established past form running on the turf. We think they both can sit off what figures to be a very fast early pace, and rally to the front in the shadow of the wire. We will bet the entry to win at 5/2 odds. The bet: Lone Star Park, Race 6, $40 to win on 1-Lawton/1A-Imma Bling.
That’s all for today. Until tomorrow ,enjoy the racing, be safe, and, as always, good luck at the windows.