Gulfstream Park will offer a 50-cent Late Pick 4 to close its 10-race card this Friday, Jan. 16. Our suggested $48 play listed below is a bargain if you take advantage of Xpressbet and 1/ST BET’s “Bet $25, get $5” promotion for races at Gulfstream.

GP 7th race (3:20 p.m. EST) -- DRINK DEEPLY was hard-ridden on the turn on a sloppy track, but she caught the drifting leader in early stretch and burst clear in the final eighth to win at this distance. The improving 4-year-old gets in light-weighted again and draws the rail. MY LADY JAMES earned nearly two-thirds of her $250k bankroll on synthetic tracks, but she handled the switch to conventional dirt well enough recently to snap out of an 18-month winless streak. She was second at the top of the stretch two starts back at 5-1/2F but proved no match for winner Pop Rox, who came back to repeat under these conditions with a 76 Beyer. Then she stalked the pace at 6F last out, drew clear in the mid-stretch but couldn’t stop the onrushing favorite from winning three in a row. If she handles the 7F distance for the first time in her career, she can upgrade to a win.

GP 8th race (3:50 p.m. EST) -- If the Chad Brown-trained FAVORABLE SCENARIO draws into this 7-1/2F optional claiming race on the turf, he is the clear favorite and the one to beat after he rallied to finish second to Grade 3-placed Capitol Hill (2-7, $165k on turf). If he doesn’t get in off the also-eligible list, it looks like a low-80 Beyer that several entrants produced recently will win it. The speedy QUEREME PASS, stakes-placed grass sprinter FLAT TO DA MAT, consistent $236k turf earner RUSE, and sharp Maiden Special Weight winners CRUISE THE NILE and BITE AND STRIKE all make the ticket.

GP 9th race (4:20 p.m. EST) -- BATTEN DOWN and STARS AND STRIPES worked forwardly and in tandem in December for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, but both are looking to recapture their best form. BATTEN DOWN won the Grade 3 Ohio Derby and ran second in the Grade 2 Jim Dandy at Saratoga during a $697k 3-year-old season, but he only raced twice last year and was well-beaten in $150,000 Excelsior at Aqueduct when last seen in April. STARS AND STRIPES was a smashing second-out winner at Aqueduct and follow-up six-figure allowance victor at Saratoga in July, but he returned four months later and trailed in the Dwyer Stakes. SOLO VENTURI was ‘in range’ of Grade 1 winner and 1-to-9 favorite Tappan Street, but the well-traveled 4-year-old was out-kicked in the stretch in a one-mile optional claimer at Gulfstream. He posted a fastest-of-76 workout since that race and trainer William Walden is 44/8-6-5 with route runners since August 20. MAGNA TIME arrives from Woodbine in top form and fired a pair of bullet workouts for her first start on dirt. She lived up to favoritism in her first two starts with Lasix, then overcame an awkward start to lead until late in a 1-1/8-mile allowance. She’s worth using at a good price.

GP 10th race (4:50 p.m. EST) -- CHEEKIEST followed the 3-wide move of the winner on the final turn and ‘improved position’ in the stretch, but she couldn’t reach the two favorites for the place and show spots in her first start off a four-month layoff. The top five finishers in the race equaled or bettered their top turf speed figure, so use the six-figure grass earner with Irad Ortiz Jr. summoned to ride. READY TO BATTLE tracked a soft pace and the dueling leaders while in-hand, but she responded with a winning run when asked on the final turn, edging away late in a longer grass route at Woodbine. She could sit a similar-type trip in here.

Suggested 50-Cent Ticket
GP 7th Race: 1, 6
GP 8th Race: 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 11
GP 9th Race: 1, 2, 4, 5
GP 10th Race: 1, 8
Cost: $48