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Wide-Open Late Pick 4 on the Slate Saturday at Gulfstream

by Jerrry Shottenkirk

January 2, 2020

If you’re looking for standouts on Gulfstream Park’s late Pick 4 on Saturday’s card, and you might have a difficult chore ahead.

If you can find a single, give yourself an A-plus for courage.

The suggested ticket is $67.50 with a 3x3x3x5 approach, and the most whittling down would probably occur in the final leg of the sequence.

The first three are stakes events and the last race is a challenging allowance race.

It starts with the trio in the eighth race – the Glitter Woman Stakes.  The 6.5-furlong race for 3-year-old fillies was the first point of trimming down as three of eight are certainly worthy of inclusion. House Party Stakes winner Spanish Point brings a 2-for-2 record, and prior to her 1 3-4-length stakes win she won a Belmont maiden-claiming race by 5 1-4 lengths. Lavi has a legit chance as he was third in the House Party and went from ninth to 3rd. She’ll likely appreciate the additional ground. Sound Machine was second in the House Party and clearly is in the mix. She improved position but didn’t make up ground in that one and is a pace factor here.

Another threesome is on the Pick 4 card in the Ginger Brew Stakes going 7.5 furlongs on the turf. It’s for 3-year-old fillies, and again, one could go many different ways here.

Cheermeister broke her maiden in the Wait A While Stakes after running second in a maiden race at Gulfstream West. She put down fast fractions and was well clear at the end in 1:34 1-5 for the mile. The Gulfstream course has been kind to speed, and in breaking from the rail post, Cheermeister will go right to the lead. Moral Reasoning, as a Chad Brown trainee will get plenty of play, comes off a maiden win at Aqueduct. Her running style hints that she will do well around two turns.

Abscond also will get her share of support and rightfully so. She won the Natalma at Woodbine and her connections thought enough of her to send her to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, finishing seventh.

The Mucho Macho Man is a free-for-all with several horses bringing in stakes experience. The mile race for 3-year-olds and three horses are included here. South Bend, Chance It, and Sole Volente are braced for good efforts. South Bend twice won at Churchill Downs and once at Keeneland, while Chance It is a two-time local stakes winner over restricted company, and Sole Volante is perfect in two starts. He moves over to the main track after his grass wins in the Pulpit Stakes at Gulfstream and a maiden race at Gulfstream West.

While each of the first three is a big challenge, nothing is close to the 11th when it comes to degree of difficulty. The five horses used here are Mustaageem, Ice Tea, Krampus, Epic Bromance, and Proliferate. It’s an optional claiming race at a mile on the turf, and this most of the entrants in the race have stakes experience. This one plays like a stakes and is a spread-out event on the card.

Here’s the suggested late Pick 4 play:

8) #4 Lavi, #6 Spanish Point, #8 Sound Machine.
9) #1 Cheermeister, #3 Moral Reasoning, #4 Abscond.
10) #1 South Bend, #2 Chance It, #6 Sole Volante.
11) #1 Mustaaqeem, #2 Ice Tea, #4 Krampus, #9 Epic Bromance, #11 Proliferate.

50-cent Pick 4 ticket: 4-6-8 with 1-3-4 with 1-2-6 with 1-2-4-9-11 ($67.50).