by Frank Carulli
April 25, 2024
There are more than 20,000 combinations for the Keeneland Late Pick 4 this Friday if the fields remain intact. It makes the 50-cent wager extremely difficult, yet extremely tempting to play. Here’s a closer look:
KEE 7th race (3:36 p.m. EST) -- ALCOVE worked in :59-1/5 from the gate for the red-hot barn of trainer Brad Cox, earning morning-line favoritism in this crowded MSW sprint. But with five first-time starters and several others having shown ability at different tracks, it’s an ‘ALL’ punch in the opening leg.
KEE 8th race (4:07 p.m. EST) -- Where does one begin to describe WAR LIKE GODDESS’s greatness? She earned $2.5 million, won two Grade 1 stakes against the boys, seeks her fourth consecutive victory in the Grade 3 Bewitch today and third straight off a five-month layoff. She’s 7-for-11 at 1-1/2 miles with wins on firm, good and yielding turf courses around the country and overcame half-mile fractions of :51-2/5 or slower three times with her powerful late kick. She (pictured above) reduces today’s Pick 4 to a Pick 3 for most.
KEE 9th race (4:38 p.m. EST) -- MUCHO MACHO GIRL won her last two non-stakes races by a combined 10-1/4 lengths. She has enough speed to make the lead from post 11 and has proven capable of stalking the pace if the likes of HAPPY SOUL and PRINCESS ADALEIGH blast off the gate. She has never run 7F but her sire, Mucho Macho Man, was a multiple Grade 1 winner going a route of ground and her dam, Tacit Approval, used her speed on the stretch-out in distance to go 7/1-1-3 at one mile. ROYAL SPA moves up if the pace is hot. She left too much work to do after a slow start in her most recent race; however, she made a last-to-2nd move on a muddy Oaklawn Park track two starts ago to finish behind 1-to-5 winner Alva Starr, who came back to win the Grade 1 Madison at Keeneland.
KEE 10th race (5:09 p.m. EST) -- CATCH A WAVE swung 4-wide at the top of the stretch and caught the co-favorite to win in his debut for trainer Chad Brown, whose winners repeat 23 percent of the time. ROSE COLLECTOR, a sweeping 3-wide winner in a debut upset on the Monmouth Park lawn, dueled inside to upper stretch in a stakes race last out before several closers passed by. He gets Lasix and is one of many double-digit price plays to use in the final leg of the ticket. GEEWURZTRAMINER is another one as he is working up a storm for his first grass test, showing bullets at three different tracks. His Grade 1-winning sire, Collected, won his debut on the turf and ran second in a follow-up Grade 3 route. TEAM CAPTAIN rallied late to get beat 2 lengths by the 4-to-5 favorite and he appears rounding to another good effort if he can negotiate post 11. DOMINGO got up to win in a 1-1/8-mile grass race that produced 0-for-8 follow-up efforts, but he gets more ground to cover and breezed in a minute flat on the main track to get ready.
Suggested 50-Cent Ticket
KEE 7th Race: ALL
KEE 8th Race: 6
KEE 9th Race: 5, 11
KEE 10th Race: 2, 5, 6, 8, 11
Cost for 50-cent ticket: $60