Oaklawn Park’s 2025-26 racing season begins with a 10-race card this Friday. If history repeats itself, expect some big prices across the board. On opening day last year, only one favorite won and the average win mutuel was $21.40. The 50-cent Pick 3s on the card yielded an average payout of $500. Here’s a look at the mid-card Pick 3 encompassing the featured $150,000 Advent Stakes for 2-year-olds. Our suggested play is a $1 ticket that costs $36.

OP 6th race (3:53 p.m. EST) -- THE THUNDERER, the only two-time winner at 1-1/8 miles in this crowded starter allowance, fits the longshot profile. He can save ground from the rail, summon his top race (86 Beyer) in a near miss at Oaklawn in February and enhance trainer Greg Compton’s resume that includes four consecutive winners off the claim in April with 30-60 days rest. The well-traveled MY NOBLE KNIGHT returns to the scene of back-to-back route victories that triggered an 8/3-3-1 record since April while racing once a month. He got first run on a wave of closers two starts back, but he drifted in the final furlong at Churchill Downs and finished second in a starter allowance. KEEN CAT finished behind MY NOBLE KNIGHT in a fast-paced 7F sprint at Churchill, but he advanced inside on the turn, checked out of contention and recovered to finish well. He posted a career-best 95 Beyer at Oaklawn in a long-distance romp with Francisco Arrieta, last year’s leading rider, aboard. MONEY RUN met nine next-out winners in four starts to close his 2024 season. He went wire-to-wire twice this year at one mile and can carry his speed far if he gets early position from post 12.

OP 7th race (4:22 p.m. EST) -- YASMIN’S :47.1 workout over the track November 28 was a full second faster than 79 of 84 others at 4F. She is a must use in this 6F MSW sprint. Two-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Brad Cox unveils rail-sitting EAGLE DANCE off a series of strong works. Cox wins at 27-percent with 2-year-olds but he is 3-for-28 at Oaklawn with first-time starters the last 2 years, with 21 of those runners being dismissed at 5-1 odds or less. AMERICAN MISSY also has a solid foundation of 5F works at Oaklawn, albeit at a much better price. She is by multiple Grade 1-placed American Freedom (3-8, $705k). SPLENDID SONG will get a lot of play off a well-bet, runner-up finish at Keeneland; however, the race came back weak with 7/0-0-1 follow-up efforts and an average 38 Beyer from those who ran on conventional dirt.

OP 8th race (4:52 p.m. EST) -- BOCA BEACH CLUB was hustled while wide on the backstretch, reeled in the free-running favorite and pulled away with authority in a debut win at Hawthorne. He is the top pick in the featured $150,000 Advent Stakes but one of many to consider in the final leg of the Pick 3. DIRTY RICH returns to the main track for the first time since July, when he shook a duel and repelled eventual Breeders’ Cup Juvenile runner-up Mr. A.P. He sheds the blinkers off a two-month freshening. WALTER THE MASON looked good in winning the Zia Park Juvenile, sprinting to a clear backstretch lead and finding gears as needed in a 16-1 upset. Morning-line favorite SPUN D M C ‘offered little resistance’ on the lead in a four-horse stakes race, but the cutback to 5-1/2F should help.

Suggested $1 Ticket
OP 6th Race: 1, 2, 4, 12
OP 7th Race: 1, 3, 8
OP 8th Race: 1, 2, 4
Cost: $36