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SANTA ANITA -- Race #2 -- WAYWARD STORM (#2)
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The 2nd race is a special starter allowance at a mile on dirt for 3 year olds who broke their maidens for a claiming tag of $40,000 or less and have never won two races. Par is a 99. The track at Santa Anita has suffered through several days of ugly wet conditions and the fields have been small lately. This race only has 5 entrants in it but I felt confident in beating the 6-5 morning line favorite so decided to list this as the spot play today.
The 6-5 morning line favorite is DISTORTED. He sprinted a nice 96-96+ to break his maiden first time out in a Md32000 race back on opening day in December. He followed that up with another good effort of 93-92-99 under the same starter allowance conditions that he faces today. He was bumped up to a first level allowance race just 7 days ago and put in a dull effort, earning a 92-93-91 while never threatening. There were a couple of things going on with him that hint that he may be going off form right now. One was the fact that they tried tweaking him with blinkers last time even though he had a win and a 2nd in his 2 previous efforts without. The last effort was just too disappointing to take him at face value as the odds on favorite in here. Yes, he was wide for much of the trip but I really failed to find much of an excuse. He may do a bit of a bounce back but if WAYWARD STORM continues to improve off the maiden win last time out, DISTORTED will have to pop another lifetime best to match him.
WAYWARD STORM is the spot play in here and is the 2nd choice on the morning line. He sprinted once in early December at Hollywood and was off slow while earning an 82-84 in a weak Md32000 race. He came out of that sprint with a string of strong 6 furlong workouts which provided a good foundation for a try in a 2 turn race. If there were any doubts that WAYWARD STORM was best in a route race, he actually bumped up in class a level to a Md40000 race at a mile and then easily beat that field with a 100-99-97 while being geared down for the last 1/16th. He was claimed out that race by Steve Knapp but keeps the same top rider in Rene Douglas. There are no reasons to think he won't improve off that effort and these starter allowance fields are a great spot to focus on horses that just broke their maidens in their last start, provided that they broke their maidens with a figure of par or better for the maiden level. WAYWARD certainly fits that profile and looks stronger than the odds on favorite.
WAYWARD STORM is the spot play win bet to start out the week. I suggest focusing on the win bet because you can pretty much take your pick for 2nd. I'll take the win bet and a small exotics key of WAYWARD STORM on top of THREE ELEVENS (8-1) and DISTORTED. Good luck.
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The 2nd race is a special starter allowance at a mile on dirt for 3 year olds who broke their maidens for a claiming tag of $40,000 or less and have never won two races. Par is a 99. The track at Santa Anita has suffered through several days of ugly wet conditions and the fields have been small lately. This race only has 5 entrants in it but I felt confident in beating the 6-5 morning line favorite so decided to list this as the spot play today.
The 6-5 morning line favorite is DISTORTED. He sprinted a nice 96-96+ to break his maiden first time out in a Md32000 race back on opening day in December. He followed that up with another good effort of 93-92-99 under the same starter allowance conditions that he faces today. He was bumped up to a first level allowance race just 7 days ago and put in a dull effort, earning a 92-93-91 while never threatening. There were a couple of things going on with him that hint that he may be going off form right now. One was the fact that they tried tweaking him with blinkers last time even though he had a win and a 2nd in his 2 previous efforts without. The last effort was just too disappointing to take him at face value as the odds on favorite in here. Yes, he was wide for much of the trip but I really failed to find much of an excuse. He may do a bit of a bounce back but if WAYWARD STORM continues to improve off the maiden win last time out, DISTORTED will have to pop another lifetime best to match him.
WAYWARD STORM is the spot play in here and is the 2nd choice on the morning line. He sprinted once in early December at Hollywood and was off slow while earning an 82-84 in a weak Md32000 race. He came out of that sprint with a string of strong 6 furlong workouts which provided a good foundation for a try in a 2 turn race. If there were any doubts that WAYWARD STORM was best in a route race, he actually bumped up in class a level to a Md40000 race at a mile and then easily beat that field with a 100-99-97 while being geared down for the last 1/16th. He was claimed out that race by Steve Knapp but keeps the same top rider in Rene Douglas. There are no reasons to think he won't improve off that effort and these starter allowance fields are a great spot to focus on horses that just broke their maidens in their last start, provided that they broke their maidens with a figure of par or better for the maiden level. WAYWARD certainly fits that profile and looks stronger than the odds on favorite.
WAYWARD STORM is the spot play win bet to start out the week. I suggest focusing on the win bet because you can pretty much take your pick for 2nd. I'll take the win bet and a small exotics key of WAYWARD STORM on top of THREE ELEVENS (8-1) and DISTORTED. Good luck.