The Nomination Is In: May 21, 2011; The Preakness Day Late All Graded Stakes Pick 4

These are the good days in the racing calendar friends; We have a new Kentucky Derby champion, Animal Kingdom, hope is flowering like Maryland's Black Eyed Susan's about a possible Triple Crown, and a wonderful all graded stakes Pick 4 gives us an opportunity to handicap and then bet within the races and vertically throughout the later stages of the card. Two turf races run at something less than firm and two dirt races that most likely will be listed as fast, but not speed carrying, is what it looks like to me and I'm feelin' it. Let's get after it before my devout readers get raptured!

Pimlico Race 9-12: The Late Pick 4 including The Preakness



Keep an eye on the weather and the scratches and changes. The best thing to do is watch some of the undercard and get a feel for how the two track surrfaces are playing.

Race 9 offers a 1 1/16 mile turf affair. The eight horse field is pretty strong with heavy chalk Shared Account, and some overseas breds, No Explaining (Ire), Desert Sage (GB) and Dyna Waltz (GB). I'm going to hope that the Breeders' Cup champ Shared Account is a bit off her game off a +180 layoff (trainer Motion does win 15% of these tho) and that one of the invaders takes the top spot. I'm a Roger Attfield fan and his No Explaining comes in off a nice yielding turf effort at KEE about 1 month ago, while Chad Brown has turf maestro Leparoux up on Desert Sage off of two nice wins and now stepping up in class. Dominguez is up for Team Sheppard and Strawbridge on Dyna Waltz, a formidable threesome.

Race 10 is a wide open grade III dirt mile and one sixteenth: Trainer Motion brings Icabad Crane, the NY bred son of Jump Start in as an expected chalk but Wesley Ward restarts Pleasant Prince and I'm hoping for the right price. Both are logical win candidates and Researcher and Apart should be factored in as well. My 'tweener is Colizeo, who I still may cover if I go the 50 cent route; 7 of 8 in the money at the distance and 9 of 12 on fast dirt for trainer Pletcher.

The Grade II Dixie on turf marks the return of Paddy O' Prado, who a year ago started his march towards turf powerhouse after finishing up the track in the Preakness. Will be heavily bet, covered by me as well, but I'm looking for two horses, Baryshnikov and Slews Answer to provide incredible value on this bet if they could take the win spot. Slews Answer is a lightly raced Trainer Motion charge (is it me of is he everywhere now?)and the Ghostzapper son out of Slews Final Answer was bred for this surface and distance and only lacks in experience. Baryshinikov is a 5 year old journeyman with 33 starts, 7 wins and most likely a price around 12-1.

In the Pick Four finale, the Grade I Preakness , I'm backing Animal Kingdom, but I rate Mucho Macho Man, Dance City and Astrology strong contenders. I won't ramble any more than that and we'll just watch it and see what happens.

I'll be building superfectas based on my base handicaps and I will be watching the undercard and adjusting if need be for the track conditions. Dialed In may rank higher if the speed dies on the front end like yesterday but I'm just not there with him.

Have fun friends, don't take it too seriously, bet responsibly and enjoy!

Turk Out!

The Nomination Is In: May 15, 2010; The Grade II Dixie and Grade I Preakness Stakes; Race 11/12 Daily Double

I love to remember Champions in their radiant glory and none to me are more glorious then Barbaro walking into Pimlico a day before his tragic final race. I try not to think about the big fella and what could have been but I found myself today with that horrible feeling from 2006 when I handicapped the Grade II Dixie as part of the Daily Double with The Preakness Stakes and came to the running lines for Nicanor, Barbaro's full brother. I've not handicapped any of Barbaro's brothers yet and I had to stop after reading his PP and just reflect back on how great the son of Dynaformer was. Let's not forget any of our runners, be it Barbaro or the cheapest claimer, and if you find The Turk enjoyable to read, please donate to a horse charity, one like Remember Me Rescue, with their easy to use widget on the right side of my blog. Thanks to Terence Dulay for the use of mighty Barbaro's picture. Let's get after it!

Pimlico Race 11 and Race 12: The Grade II Dixie and the Grade I Preakness Stakes



The Grade II Dixie goes to post at 5:12 Eastern, a full hour before the Preakness, so get your bets in.

The weather appears to be fine, the turf appears firm and there was only one scratch at the time of this writing, but get your information ready before finalizing your handicap.

Trainer Sheppard brings Just As Well in for his second off a long layoff, something the trainer does well with just 11% of the time. The 7YO does a Turf from Synthetic switch which Sheppard wins 22% of the time with. The trainer's graded stakes win rate of 27% and his 24% win rate with Leparoux, coupled with the Just As Well's 10 of 16 in the money on turf and 13 of 22 lifetime in the money makes him formidable. Don't like as a win bet with a suspected low price but will be part of my superfecta and trifectas.

5 YO gelding Picou comes in off the race of his career, a 103 BSF win at 1 1/8 on firm turf in early April. Trainer Brown puts E. Trujillo up, and the two combine for 44% wins on 16 starts and Brown clips away at 21% on turf and 33% in graded stakes. Expect a late turn of foot.

Rahystarda has been on my radar since beating Turk favorite Rahy's Attorney in the Grade III River City Handicap last year. 9 wins on 21 turf starts and 2 wins at the distance.

The group of Nicanor, Wesley and Grassy will round out my Show and 4th spots on the exotics.

In the main event, I like the middle of the starting gate to all show for themselves well. I'm tepidly backing Jackson Bend for his guts, Looking at Lucky for his pure natural potential and Super Saver for the respect the Derby winner deserves.

The second tier to me includes Dublin, Paddy O' Prado and Caracortado.

I like Jackson Bend on fast dirt where he is a perfect 9 for 9 in the money. A 4 furlong :46 3/5ths bullet earlier this week is a big fat wow. Hall of Fame Jock Mike Smith gets the mount for the second time.

2 YO champ Looking at Lucky has had some bad trips and gets Martin Garcia up today for Trainer Baffert. His best race of the year was on fast dirt and if Garcia can wait on him a bit he should be right there.

Super Saver ran an impressive 98 BSF and lost by a neck in Arkansas Derby. Nothing to dislike about the Kentucky Derby winner except the price. He'll be apart of all tickets.

I like the hard knockin' Dublin to find the exotic ticket. Making his 5th start of 2010 and his 8th dirt start.

Have fun with these. The Turk is about to get his "preak on" with a Camacho Room 101, his current stick of choice.

Turk Out!