The third week of the Del Mar summer stand wraps with 2-year-olds spotlighted in the $100,000 CTBA Stakes. No strong opinion in that one, but the poor gate exits for the morning line favorite Free Closer open up the upset discussion. First post for Sunday’s 10-race card is 5 pm ET / 2 pm PT.

Each day this summer at Del Mar, I’ll be handicapping the action with my top plays on the card – including full-card selections for a featured program each week (this week’s full-card was Saturday).

Del Mar: Race 2 | 5:32 pm ET
#1 Honky Tonk Girl (8-1 morning line odds) showed a bit of early life in her Churchill debut before tiring in May. She’s had a series of works since, including a gate drill over the track July 27. This ship-and-win bonus play while dropping 2YOs from maiden special to maiden claiming has been a hot spot for trainer Peter Miller. He’s done it 5 times since 2021 with 3 wins ($7, $9, $18) and a second (at 11-1 odds) among those. Win bet #1. Picks 1-5-2-8

Del Mar: Race 3 | 6:04 pm ET
#3 Miss Mandalay (8-1 morning line odds) has been rock-solid in Del Mar turf sprints and should get a dynamite trip here just off a hot pace while saving ground. Just missed at 8-1 last summer in a very similar spot and pace situation from an inside draw. Joel Rosario hasn’t been on his game of late, but he’s one of the best turf sprint jockeys in the game when focused. Win bet #3. Picks 3-5-1

Del Mar: Race 5 | 7:10 pm ET
#6 One Smokin Dude (4-1 morning line odds) could get trainer George Papaprodomou over the hump at the Del Mar summer meet. He’s had a wild 16 second and third-place finishers (3 wins) from his first 30 starters and knocking on the door. These bottom-level claimers have been a haven for the barn with 27% wins and a $1.37 ROI for every $1 bet at Del Mar during summer the past 5 seasons. He’s 34% first off the claim overall and picked up this Del Mar course winner for a $8,000 song at Los Al last time and gets to run for a winner’s share more than double that here. Win bet #6. Picks 6-8-9