Engraver Is My Key

Quiet morning at LosAl after morning workouts

The week of racing at Los Alamitos Race Course begins with a nine-race card and one of my key singles tonight is 5-1 on the morning line as the fifth betting choice. The other best bet is a deserving morning line favorite after a five length win at same level. Let's take a look.

Best bets:

Race 4 - #9 Engraver - this son of Wave Carver has the pedigree to get better with age. He makes his 3-year-old debut after showing some talent as a 2-year-old. He was last seen in the Los Alamitos $2Million Futurity Trials when acting up at the gate and completely using his energy before the race. His record of 6-1-2-1 is a solid one. He showed a good late kick in his starts at 300 yards and got his only victory at the distance of 350 yards. Today's distance of 330 yards fits him well, shows a good workout of 18.0 and I like the outside post. He has plenty of positives going for him.  He is 5-1 on the morning line, hope we get a great price.

Race 7 - #6 Wine N Maxine - this filly jumped up with a big effort last out in a big win in a good final time. Jerry Wallace brings her back at the same level and looks like the one to beat. The outside post gives Vinnie Bednar the luxury of looking over to see what the rest of the competition decides to do after the break. She is the deserving 8-5 morning line favorite.

Selections:

Race 1:  1-6-5
Race 2:  6-3-4
Race 3:  6-2-7
Race 4:  9-5-7
Race 5:  5-4-1
Race 6:  2-5-3
Race 7:  6-4-1
Race 8:  1-6-2
Race 9:  3-5-7

My Plays:

Race 1 - $1 Pick Four: 1,6 / 3,4,6 / 1,2,6,7 / 9 = $24

Race 6 - $1 Pick Four: 2,3,5 / 6 / 1,2,4,6 / 3,5 = $24

Let's get it!

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Los Alamitos Claiming Futurity Stakes Trials

        Before we dive into the selections for tonight's card at Los Alamitos, I want to give thanks to Rachel McLaughlin (@IndyDownsRachel) and the entire team at Indiana Downs for having me as a guest handicapper last night.

It was my first time visiting Indiana Downs and I have to say I can't wait until I have another opportunity to go back. They have great facilities, great atmosphere, good crowd of racing fans, and most of all a fan friendly race track. Plus, the bets treated me good throughout the day. Good Times!








The weekend of racing continues tonight at Los Alamitos Race Course with the running of the Claiming Futurity Stakes Trials. Three trials, races 7-9, where 21 two-year-olds will run for a $12,500 claiming tag and the 10 fastest will return to run in the $61,600 final.

Selections:

Race 1:  5-2-3
Race 2:  5-2-4
Race 3:  6-1-4
Race 4:  6-7-5
Race 5:  2-4-5
Race 6:  4-3-6
Race 7:  1-2-5
Race 8:  1-2-4
Race 9:  1-2-6

My plays:

Race 1 - $10 Pick Four: 5 / 5 / 1,6 / 6 = $20

Race 6 - $1  Pick Four:  3,4,6 / 1,2 / 1 / 1,2,6 = $18

Let's get 'em!

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Week Begins With News of More Dates

The racing week at Los Alamitos Race Course begins with news that Los Al expects to pick up two weeks of racing in 2014 from the main Thoroughbred circuit calendar that is left over after the closure of BetFair Hollywood Park. The tentative dates are from December 11-21.

Los Alamitos is primarily a Quarter Horse track but it also runs Thoroughbred races at the distance of 4 and 1/2 furlongs year round. Los Al is a night time track so it will be interesting to see if it runs the newly acquired dates during the night (I hope so). The big question with the December 11-21 dates is that Los Alamitos traditionally runs it's two biggest races during that time frame, The Los Alamitos $2 Million Futurity and the prestigious Champion of Champions. Will they change the dates of those two races and run all Thoroughbred races at night? Or will they run the Thoroughbred meet during the day and keep the Quarter Horse meet at night?

Either way, I like the location, the Orange County market, the ownership, and the overall potential that Los Alamitos Race Course has going for them. Read more about the change in calendar for Southern California in this DRF article: http://www.drf.com/news/california-dates-assigned-stabling-options-next-agenda

Selections:

Race 1:  1-6-8
Race 2:  8-5-4
Race 3:  5-2-1
Race 4:  3-7-2
Race 5:  6-1-3
Race 6:  1-2-4
Race 7:  4-3-1
Race 8:  1-2-3
Race 9:  3-1-6

My Plays:

Race 1 - $1 Pick Four:  1,6 / 2,4,5,8 / 5 / 2,3,7 = $24

Race 6 - $1 Pick Four:  1,2,4,6 / 1,3,4 / 1 / 1,3 = $24

Good luck!

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245 Horses in 25 Trials to the GI $750,000 Ruidoso Futurity

The outcome of the Preakness Stakes last weekend left us once again without a Thoroughbred Triple Crown winner this year but hopefully we get a rematch of the Derby and Preakness winners in the Belmont. Keep up with all things horse racing and the ABRV
Tour at FollowHorseRacing.com

One Dashing Eagle wins last year's All American Futurity

Speaking about the Triple Crown, the road to the Quarter Horse Triple Crown begins today. The Quarter Horse Triple Crown is different than the Thoroughbred Triple Crown but it is still very difficult to achieve. It definitely takes a special horse and plenty of racing luck. The three legs of the Quarter Horse Triple crown are the $750,000 Ruidoso Futurity, the $1,000,000 Rainbow Futurity, and the $2.6 Million All American Futurity. All at Ruidoso Downs.

All three races are for 2-year-olds (3-year-olds for Thoroughbreds) and if a horse wins all three races, the horse also gets a $4 Million dollar bonus. There are no points system (like Thoroughbred Racing) in Quarter Horse racing so the ten fastest qualifiers from each set of trials go on the final. Since all the races have trials, that means that the horse has to qualify in three trials and then win the three finals. In other words, a horse has to perform at a top level in a total of six races (three for Thoroughbreds).

It is opening day at Ruidoso Downs where a total of 245 two-year-olds will race in 25 trials to the Ruidoso Futurity, the first leg of Quarter Horse racing triple crown. The 10 fastest qualifiers out of these 25 trials will return to run in the GI $750,000 final.

First post for the marathon card is at 10:00am and the last race of the evening is set to go off at 7:12pm Mountain Time.

Selections:

Race   1:  5-1-7            Pick-3
Race   2:  10-7-5
Race   3:  8-2-9
Race   4:  10-5-1
Race   5:  5-1-4            Pick-3
Race   6:  10-9-3
Race   7:  8-5-4
Race   8:  5-10-6
Race   9:  1-2-8            Pick-3
Race 10:  8-10-4
Race 11:  3-10-9
Race 12:  5-10-7
Race 13:  5-7-4            Pick-3
Race 14:  7-4-8
Race 15:  8-7-10
Race 16:  8-9-7
Race 17:  10-3-1          Pick-4
Race 18:  10-9-8
Race 19:  9-3-7
Race 20:  3-2-8
Race 21:  7-5-8
Race 22:  8-5-7
Race 23:  10-7-5          Pick-3
Race 24:  5-1-6
Race 25:  8-3-10

My Plays:

Race 1 - $1 Pick Three: 5 / 5,7,10 / 2,8 = $6

Race 5 - $1 Pick Three: 5 / 3,9,10 / 4,5,8 = $9

Race 9 - $1 Pick Three: 1,2,8 / 8,10 / 3 = $6

Race 13 - $1 Pick Three: 4,5,7 / 4,7,8 / 8 = $9

Race 17 - $1 Pick Four: 10 / 8,9,10 / 3,7,9 / 3 = $9

Race 23 - $1 Pick Three: 7,10 / 5 / 3,8,10 = $6

Stay tuned and come back later tonight for my plays and selections for Los Alamitos.

It's going to be a great weekend of racing coast to coast. Ruidoso, Los Al, Hollywood Park, Belmont, Arlington, Canterbury, Indiana and many more solid cards.

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2-Year-Olds With Potential Are My Best Bets

The Saddling Paddock at Los Alamitos. 

A nine-race card begins the week at Los Alamitos Race Course which features two races for 2-year-olds and a competitive Allowance field in Race 8. Last Sunday evening I had two best bets and they both delivered with good wins. I scored on the late pick-4 on a $30 play for a payout of $455, let's see if we can hit another one tonight.

Tonight I once again have two Best Bets and they both first-time-starters, and they both land on the 2-year-old races, let's see how they run:

Race 2:  #6 Spirit Leader - This Corona Cartel colt from the Paul Jones barn has turned in two solid workouts. In his April 25th drill, he looked strong in a nice 12.10 work. He looks to have landed in between two slower foes and if he gets a good break under Ramon Sanchez, the race might be over from the start.

Race 6: #8 Hannahs Double Love - This filly by Tac It Like A Man has done everything right in her two workouts and looks to be much better than any of her opponents here. Both of her workouts were the fastest on each of those days and Juan Aleman is no stranger to having babies ready to fire in their debut. She will be a big favorite to begin the late pick-4 but there might be some value in the remaining three legs.

My Selections:

Race 1:  3-4-5
Race 2:  6-2-1
Race 3:  4-6-8
Race 4:  3-5-8
Race 5:  5-6-7
Race 6:  8-1-3
Race 7:  1-7-5
Race 8:  4-5-3
Race 9:  6-7-3

My Plays:

Race 1 - $1 Pick Four:  3.4.5 / 6 / 4,6,8 / 3,5,8 = $27

Race 6 - $1 Pick Four:  8 / 1,7 / 3,4,5,6 / 3,6,7 = $24

There is also a small pick six carryover that begins in Race 4, I will build my ticket and tweet it out. Stay tuned for that.

Let's get it!

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Kindergarten Futurity Trials

As you already know, I am on the America's Best Racing Tour and we invaded Louisville for Kentucky Derby week and what a week it was. Keep up with all things horse racing at FollowHorseRacing.com

The view from above the grandstand at Los Alamitos Race Course

On to Los Alamitos Race Course.

The first futurity of the year is here. Trials to the Kindergarten Futurity will go off as races 2-9 tonight.
Two-year-olds have been running the past few weeks but today we get to see which ones will stand out from this early crop. The familiar barns of Paul Jones, Jose Flores, Scott Willoughby, Jose De La Torre,  Jaime Gomez and Jim Hanson are well represented tonight. The pick-4 pools have been strong and the payouts have been awesome, let's see if we can scoop something tonight.

Tonight's Best Bets:

Race 2: #5 Shake Djibouti. She did not get out to a good break in her debut from post position number 2, today she gets on the outer part of the track and trainer Jaime Gomez does good with runners making their second start. I like the connections and I like the breeding. I think she will run big tonight. 5-2 on the morning line.

Race 6: #3 Fiesty Flo. She stumbled at the start in her debut from the rail post and rallied nicely to get up for second after being far back early. She has all the potential to improve a lot in her second start tonight for Jose Flores. Cruz Mendez us up. I like that she is next to the other favorite, #4 Flying Top Fuel, who won his debut with a good break. Fiesty Flo should get a good target to run with. She is 9-5 on the morning line (second choice).

Selections:

Race 1:  2-4-5
Race 2:  6-3-7
Race 3:  1-7-3
Race 4:  1-8-4
Race 5:  2-7-1
Race 6:  3-2-6
Race 7:  7-6-2
Race 8:  2-8-1
Race 9:  7-4-5

My plays:

Race 1 - $1 Pick Four:  1,2,4,5,6 / 6 / 1,7 / 1,8 = $20

Race 6 - $1 Pick Four:  3 / 1,2,5,6,7 / 1,2,8 / 4,7 = $30

Fresh off a small layoff, let's get it!

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