There’s something in the air at Santa Anita Park on Friday afternoons. The $3 All-Turf Pick 3 paid $657, $824 and $3,470 the last three weeks. There are shorter fields in this week’s sequence, covering races 3, 5 and 9. But until proven otherwise, there remains plenty of betting value.

Santa Anita, Race 3 (4:59 p.m. EST)BURNING RUBBER, engulfed by the pursuing odds-on favorite and a pair of closers at 6F last out, will try to carry his speed farther on the class drop and become the first $100,000 turf earner in the field. But the 8-to-5 favorite offers little value, so use some others in this $30,000/nw3 claimer. SAMMY DAVIS chased eventual stakes-placed Track Tiger through fast fractions and finished second in allowance company in his lone try at today’s 6-1/2F distance. MIO BAMBINO, a steady upper-70 Beyer type, owns the top turf speed figure in the field and returns to the lawn in his second start off the claim. STARLIGHT BUZZIN pulled away from the 2-to-5 favorite and two other next-out winners when he won a main-track sprint here off similar rest in the Spring. He finished third in a 6F turf sprint won by two-time allowance winner Matt At Five (4-9, $238k).

Santa Anita Race 5 (6:00 p.m. EST)HEY LIL LADY gathered momentum on the turn, angled widest for the stretch drive and finished full of run for second at 5F. She won at today’s distance in her second start this year and was out-kicked by the winning favorite at one mile two starts ago. She is a deserving favorite. WINIKA shook backstretch pressure and held off the deep closers to win going a route of ground and enhance trainer Jeff Mullins’ torrid 41-percent ‘repeat’ rate.

Santa Anita, Race 9 (8:00 p.m. EST)DANZINGWITH MAXINE is 3-for-6 on the Santa Anita lawn. ISSA COURT is 18/3-2-4 and multiple stakes-placed on the grass. Both have six-figure bankrolls. Their six opponents are a combined 3-for-58 on turf. OVETA’S HOBBY makes the ticket as a longshot, having met four follow-up repeaters in nine starts this year, running competitively at this level and class rising off the claim by trainer Ryan Bratcher, who is 9-for-39 in the last 16 months with average winning payouts of 6-to-1.

Suggested Pick 6
SA 3rd race: 2, 3, 4, 5
SA 5th race: 1, 2
SA 9th Race: 1, 5, 6
Cost for a $3 Ticket: $72