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Santa Anita Park: One of the unique views in all of horse racing.@santaanitapark on Twitter

Garrity's Sunday Stakes picks 3 races at Santa Anita – the Chillingworth, Zuma and Zenyatta

Garrity's first post is at 6:06 EDT.

We have three plays on this fall Sunday, all out West, at beautiful Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California, where we’re going to try to capitalize on a main track that has been quite speed-favoring since the meet opened on Friday. We expect fast dirt and firm turf in all races, so let’s go.

Santa Anita Park, Race 5, 6:06 pm ET

Grade 3 Chillingworth Stakes, 6 ½ furlongs, Dirt, Fillies & Mares 3 & Up

A field of six lines up for the Chillingworth. We like 2-Scottish Star, a Richard Mandella trainee, and we like her because she appears to be lone speed: she’s not the fastest filly in the world, or even on the Santa Anita grounds, but she does appear to have caught a field that is lacking in early zip, which should allow jockey Flavien Prat to go right to the front, and win this race in wire-to-wire fashion. We will bet her to win at 5/2. The bet: Santa Anita, Race 5, $40 to win on 2-Scottish Star.

Santa Anita Park, Race 8, 4:34 pm ET

$200,000 Zuma Beach Stakes, 1 mile, Turf, 2-Year-Olds

This looks like a fairly weak group of ten juvenile turfers, weak enough, we think, that a first-time North American starter, 3-Picota, is a major player. We think he’s live even though he is a maiden, having failed to win in three tries at second-tier tracks in England earlier this year. While he did not break his maiden in any of those efforts, he did run pretty well, hitting the board in all three, and that looks even better considering that he faced big fields in all those races, and overcame quite a bit of traffic trouble to run second in his last. He’s had some time off to recover, and to mature physically, all of this combined is, we think, enough to give him the nod here. It also helps that his trainer, Phil D”Amato, excels with first-time North American starters, winning at a robust 32% clip. We will bet Picota to win at 6-1. The bet: Santa Anita, Race 8, $40 to win on 3-Pecota.

Santa Anita Park, Race 9, 8:06 pm ET
Grade 2 Zenyatta Stakes, 1 1/16 miles, Dirt, Fillies & Mares 3 & Up

Sometimes, identifying the horse who will get the early lead is difficult. In this race, it is easy: it will be 3-Private Mission, who contested very fast fractions in her last, when she won the Grade 3 Torrey Pines Stakes at Del Mar with a pace-pressing trip. We see a repeat today, with her getting the early lead, and riding the speed-favoring Santa Anita dirt to a front-running score. We will bet her to win at 5/2. The bet: Santa Anita, Race 9, $40 to win on 3-Private Mission.

That’s all for today. Until the next time, enjoy the racing, be safe, and, as always, good luck at the windows.

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