Laurel Park’s Pick 5 will begin this Friday with $37,265 in the carryover pool. It’s never an easy sequence, but it’s surely worth constructing a ticket for the 50-cent wager.

LRL 5th (2:02 p.m. EST) -- ITALIAN SYMPHONY gained 5-wide in the stretch in a grass route at Monmouth dominated by deep closers. But he earned a good speed figure for his new barn, a point validated when the race yielded two next-out winners and three runners-up. BODECREAM won turf marathons on firm and soft footing recently to push his grass earnings toward $500,000. He draws outside but is tough to leave off the ticket. PASSIONED has two wins and a second the last three times he made the lead going a route of ground. He can put hIs speed to good use in his first start on turf in two years. GENERAL’S DUTY was bottled up in traffic two starts ago and finished out of the money in a one-mile grass race that came back strong. He made a 5-wide middle move in a longer route race last out to get in winning range before leveling off.

LRL 6th race (2:29 p.m. EST) -- Somebody has to win this $16,000 maiden claimer. The field is a combined 14/0-0-0. Only one entrant topped a 20 Beyer speed rating and only one ran beyond 6F on the dirt. Go 6-deep in Leg 2 of the Pick 5.

LRL 7th (2:59 p.m. EST) -- BAY OF BENGAL dueled inside of the favorite until he faded in the stretch when last seen seven months ago. The sixth, eighth and 10th-place finishers won in their next start, two with 78 Beyers. He returns as a gelding in a new barn and can make good use of his speed in this spot. WICKED BOSS’s lone turf try was okay. He rallied 3-wide into the stretch with the odds-on winner in hot pursuit and finished fourth, but he, too, could hold a tactical edge today.

LRL 8th race (3:27 p.m. EST) -- CHANGE MY WORLD ‘sparred head-to-head’ with a repeat winner and a next-out runaway in the final 1/8th but finished third, upping his allowance record to 8/1-2-4 since a February maiden win at Laurel Park. KNOCKANARA missed by a nose in his bid for four consecutive turf sprint victories. RYEDIGGITYDOG finished 1-2 in 6 of his last 8 turf sprints, three times as the favorite.

LRL 9th race (3:58 p.m. EST) -- BELLA CATTIVA was eager to go while under a snug hold to the far turn, then put away the 2-to-5 favorite and won easily at Timonium. Wearing blinkers made a big difference in her second start and she is taken to repeat as today’s solo play.

Suggested 50-Cent Pick 3
LRL 5th Race: 3, 6, 7, 11
LRL 6th Race: 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8
LRL 7th Race: 3, 6
LRL 8th Race: 3, 7, 9
LRL 9th Race: 3
Cost: $72