Having a single in the last race of a Pick 4 can wear on a player’s nerves, but if you can make it to that point with some prices in hand, it can also make for some exciting moments.

Hopefully that will be the way it is Saturday in Gulfstream Park’s late Pick 4, as this suggested ticket have a lone checkmark in the finale.

Rapid Transit will carry the load in the 12th and final race as the Aubrey Maragh-trained daughter of Bullet Train filly brings some sharp credentials into the $10,000 claiming race on the turf. In four starts, she has three wins and a second and was claimed two back by the Maragh barn.

Everything else in the sequence is an extreme challenge, with a 5x7x3x1 approach for $52.50, which is a little more than normal.

The biggest spread race is the featured $75,000 Bear’s Den Stakes, which is even enough that seven of the entrants are on this ticket – Stirling Drive, Timmy M., Art G Is Back, Evil Eye, Scraps, Forever Mo and Jackson. The 7.5-furlong turf race has a capable lineup and it will be as balanced as the track has had all year.

Art G Is Back is the 5-2 morning line favorite off two straight wins, including a score in the Benny The Bull Stakes for state-breds. The Ron Spatz-trained Exchange Rate colt is effective in sprints, two-turn races and on both surfaces. But many others have similar credentials.

Stirling Drive comes in off a win over Art G Is Back in the Not Surprising Stakes. It was a reversal in form and only the second time the Milton Wolfson-trained charge was on the board in eight tries this year.

But those two are not a shoo-in for an exacta as there are plenty of others with a chance, including: Timmy M. was a closing second in a fast open allowance race last time and rounding back into form; Evil Eye is two of four and ships in from Ellis Park, where he was an allowance winner last time; Scraps lost by just a half-length in the Not Surprising and followed with an optional-claiming win vs. state-breds; Forever Mo lost the Not Surprising by a neck while third and most recently was third in the James H. Kyle Stakes; and Jackson has been an effective sprinter, was second in the Texas Glitter on turf this year and can set the pace.


Here’s the suggested ticket for the late Pick 4 Saturday at Gulfstream Park:

Race 9) #2 Super Witch, #3 Nothins Free, #4 Rosepath, #7 Queen Roller, #8 Tuesday’s Rose.

Race 10) #1 Stirling Drive, #2 Timmy M, #3 Art G Is Back, #4 Evil Eye, #6 Scraps, #7 Forever Mo, #8 Jackson

Race 11) #2 So Nifty, #4 Rayo My King, #8 Vinnie Van Go.

Race 12) #1 Rapid Transit.

Total Ticket Cost) 2,3,4,7,8/1,2,3,4,6,7,8/2,4,8/1 = $52.50 for $0.50