The stakes schedule is very light today, which is understandable, as there is evidently a tackle football game in Las Vegas this evening that will draw attention from a lot of people. That means just two stakes on the national simulcasting slate today, a pair of turf sprints in Florida and California; they will comprise the day’s action. We expect firm grass in both, so let’s go.
Gulfstream Park, Race 9, 4:07 pm ET
$100,000 Ladies Turf Sprint Stakes, 5 furlongs, Turf, Fillies & Mares 4 & Up
Nine older females go in this turf sprint. Quite a few of them are need-the-lead types, and since none of them has enough early foot to establish early supremacy, we see an early battle among the speedballs, creating a very quick early pace that sets up the race for a closer. That is 7-Choose Joy, who is good at this distance, with five wins and five seconds in ten career starts at five furlongs on turf, and who should get an ideal setup for her late charge. Look for her to be flying late; we will bet her to win at 7/2. The bet: Gulfstream Park, Race 9, $40 to win on 7-Choose Joy.
Santa Anita Park, Race 7, 5:00 pm ET
$100,000 Sweet Life Stakes, 6 ½ furlongs, Turf, 3-Year-Old Fillies
A deep field of eleven 3-year-old fillies will line up to run down Santa Anita’s beautiful and iconic hillside turf course in the Sweet Life. Since none of the ones who have been running locally overly impress us, we are focusing on 7-Voodoo Magic, who ran five times in her native France last year, facing some pretty tough fillies at top-tier tracks like Longchamp and Deauville. Her last start, in fact, was in the Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac in October: we don’t particularly care that she was 48-1, nor that she finished seventh, as the Boussac is a major race in France, the nation’s only Group 1 for juvenile fillies, and none of her rivals today has faced anywhere near that level of competition makes her strictly the one to beat. We will bet her to win at 7/2 odds, and we will do with gusto. The bet: Santa Anita, Race 7, $75 to win on 7-Voodoo Magic.
That’s all for today. Until the next time, enjoy the races, be safe, and, as always, good luck at the windows.