Throughout July, Tuesdays and Thursdays heat up at 1/ST BET and Xpressbet with our Red, White & Bet promotion. Bet $100, Get $10 on select tracks this month. First up Thursday will be Colonial Downs, which has an early start time to beat the heat. First post will be 10:45 am ET and here’s how I’ll approach the card in Virginia with an assist from the Betmix Angler database.

Colonial Downs Race 3 | 11:41 am ET
#2 Hay Grace Brennan (8-1 morning line odds) has shown some early life in open maiden races at Laurel and note the Laurel runners are showing a positive ROI early in the Colonial meet while the Churchill shippers have been widely disappointing at shorter prices. This race has a 3-5 ML favorite via Churchill that will help the prices elsewhere. Picks up Paco Lopez, a top speed jockey, with an inside draw in a turf mile. Catch her to score. Win bet #2. Picks: 2-4-6-5

Colonial Downs Race 8 | 2:01 pm ET
#5 Taco Cat Backwards (8-1 morning line odds) wasn’t anything special on synthetic at Turfway for a modest barn but showed significant improvement on turf at Laurel last out for Madison Meyers. The underrated trainer’s runners are 3-for-3 in the exacta early in the Colonial meet and firing ($14 winner, 12-1 runner-up). Jock-trainer tandem sparkles with huge ROI of $3.31 for every $1 bet at Colonial over 17 starters last summer. Win bet #5. Exacta key-box 5 with 7,4. Picks: 5-7-4-9

Eligible tracks and days:
• Thursday, July 2 // Colonial Downs
• Tuesday, July 7 // Thistledown
• Thursday, July 9 // Canterbury Park
• Tuesday, July 14 // Finger Lakes
• Thursday, July 16 // Belterra Park
• Tuesday, July 21 // Mountaineer
• Thursday, July 23 // Penn National
• Tuesday, July 28 // Horseshoe Indianapolis
• Thursday, July 30 // Charles Town