Live racing returns to Santa Anita this weekend – and Xpressbet and 1/ST BET are rolling out the welcome mat with a Hit & Split promotion on the Late Pick 4 opening day Friday. Pick all four winners and you will take home your share of $2,500. We’ll try to cash in with a suggested $36 Pick 4 ticket below.

SA 6th race (6:30 p.m. EST) -- BIG A’S LITTLE ONE awakened with blinkers in her second start, racing 4-wide throughout and rallying for second behind a 7-1 first-time starter. Trainer Andy Mathis is 23-for-81 the last two years in maiden claiming races with a positive return on investment, including three winners since March at 9-2, 7-1 and 10-1. She could have morning-line favorites GODAVRI and FLY AT KNIGHT to catch but offers better value than both Maiden Special Weight class droppers. GODAVRI played the bridesmaid in three consecutive turf sprints as the favorite. She debuted on the Los Alamitos dirt in a race that produced three next-out runners-up and six well-beaten foes. FLY AT KNIGHT blew stretch leads in 3 of 4 starts, sheds 7 pounds and cuts back to 5-1/2F on dirt for the first time. Her rivals in those races were a combined 15/2-1-1 next out. WEST FRESNO has a strong foundation of workouts in the last two months – including gate moves in :35-4/5 and :47-2/5 – for her first start. The rail draw is difficult but the price is right to include her on the ticket. NEWPORT DREAMZ gets Lasix for her seasonal debut and has a runner-up finish between two six-figure earners at Santa Anita last fall to summon.

SA 7th race (7:00 p.m. EST) -- MAGICAL MISS broke sharp, backed off a wild scramble for the lead, gained 4-wide into the stretch but flattened out as the favorite after a debut upset on the Del Mar lawn. She can put her speed to better use from a better post in this field but has to carry it an extra half-furlong. WILLOW COVE returns from a year layoff in hopes of duplicating her maiden win on the turf. She rode the rail from the far turn to the finish and out-kicked the onrushing favorite in the final eighth to prevail. LADY GREGORY, first or second in 5 of 6 starts on turf, won under these conditions last year at Santa Anita and returns to the turf in her second start as an 8-year-old off a sub-par try on dirt.

SA 8th (7:30 p.m. EST) -- MYSTIC FLYER appears all or nothing in his first start since March 2024. He was last seen posting three consecutive 80-plus Beyers, winning once and facing the likes of Grade 3-placed Ghost of Midnight (5-8, $184k), stakes-placed Barely Functional ($302k) and Speedy Grave (45/8-14-6, $286k) in the other two races. His :59 work here last week is encouraging. Use longshot SUNSET STORM as a backup on the Pick 4 ticket. He won one-mile races at three tracks since February and gets in as the co-lightweight in the field.

SA 9th race (8:00 p.m. EST) -- REHEARSAL, unhurried from what appeared an ideal striking spot on the rail, instead got caught in a traffic jam from mid-turn to mid-stretch while the winning second favorite was in full flight. WILDFIRE PRINCESS lacked stretch kick in a fast-paced turf sprint, now she stretches back out in distance, removes the blinkers and changes riders again. She gave way from close to the pace in her lone turf route in MSW company at Churchill Downs, but her dam, Go West Marie (5-17, $374k), was a multiple stakes-winning long sprinter on turf. STRAWBERRY TIZZY, close to the pace for the first time in her fourth start on the lawn, led at the stretch call, vied between two rivals at the sixteenth pole and finished second to the 2-to-5, MSW-dropping winner.

Suggested 50-Cent Pick 4
SA 6th Race: 1, 3, 7, 8
SA 7th Race: 4, 7, 9
SA 8th Race: 3, 5
SA 9th Race: 2, 4, 5
Cost: $36