The Dream of Summer Stakes is the highlight of the Saturday card on closing weekend at Santa Anita and is right in the center of good-looking Pick Five to start the day. 

With the 50-cent increments, you can add a lot of numbers, but if get carried away, you will realize how quickly math can work against you. They add up in a hurry, so it helps to have a couple of races you can whittle down to a single or a pair. The first two and fourth races appear to require the most numbers, while the Dream of Summer (third race) and the fifth look more attractive with fewer checkmarks. 

Starr of Quality is the odds-on favorite in the Dream of Summer, a mile challenge for California-breds. She backed out of the Grade 2 Santa Margarita. She’s mostly in open races against optional allowance company and rarely hasn’t jumped into the state waters much. In May 2018 she throttled restricted allowance fillies and mares and hasn’t seen them since. A drop back to Cal-breds will make her the one to beat. Coco Kisses also is worthy of inclusion. She failed in open company and a pair of bad efforts on turf her only blemishes. 

Posterize and Wild Bean are strong entrants in the fifth and final of the sequence. Posterize is favorably placed in a state-bred sprint. It took him six times to break his maiden but his victory was in such easy fashion that a repeat effort would be plenty of enough for the win this time around. Wild Bean beat open company and is a big player in this restricted test. 


My Ticket

Race 1) #2 D K’s Crown, #4 Bobs Blues Man, #5 Clear to Close. 

Race 2) #1 Believe Indeed, #5 Zuzanna, #7 An Eddie Surprise. 

Race 3) #2 Starr of Quality, #4 Coco Kisses. 

Race 4) #1 Holy Ghost, #8 Fortune of War, #9 Mr. Magico. 

Race 5) #2 Posterize, #5 Wild Bean. 

Total Ticket Cost) = $54 for $0.50