Saturday, September 3, 2011

Guaranteed $20,000 Pick 4 Balmoral Selections & $2 Miller Lites


Last Wednesday was a near miss. We had the first three races in the bag going into the dreaded single. I had selected Maranatha Hanover but also mentioned that Maladar would be tough, and tough he was winning the race. Maladar went off at 5/1 and paid $12.40 to win and the Pick 4 paid out $288.20. So if you added Maladar to your ticket, making it a $48 play you would had an excellent return. I’m going to remind all readers that the Pick 4 is the best value play in horse racing, and at many tracks the takeout is low. Here at Balmoral it’s only 14%! It just shows that with a small investment and tight handicapping you can score some nice returns … consistently. In time I will go back and figure out if I added those horses I mentioned but didn’t add, and increase my tickets how many Pick 4’s would I’d hit so far. Maybe by next Wednesday have those numbers.

So tonight is the $20,000 Guaranteed Pick 4 at Balmoral. Races 10 through 13 and this card is very difficult to play on $24, so more luck will be needed tonight. So enjoy those $2 Miller Lites and $2 grill and here we go with tonight’s selections:

Race 10 #3 Waltakawalcek ML 10/1 #5 Cole Snap ML 5/2 #6 Bell Valley Bill ML 3/1

I like Cole Snap in this race, consistent speed figures, the last two races were strong finishes and just missed. The connections are strong and look perfect to grab the winners circle tonight. This gelding’s speed and class numbers are the tops of this group.

Race 11 #8 Mattoutflying ML 8/1

The #8 is shipping in from Indy and has done well in the claiming ranks posting strong speed figures. Now in the NW class and should dominate this group Marcus Miller is driving and has had good success in the past. Going to single here even though Voomerang will be looming.

Race 12 #3 Parked Onda Street ML 8/1 #6 My Boy Luke ML 3/1 #10 Onhishonor Hanover 4/1

The #6 My Boy Luke has the speed and class edge here. Nice efforts on the road and now back in Crete. Has done well here and Todd Warren has gelding in a nice groove.

Race 13 #8 Niteinthebox ML 9/2 #9 All American Solo ML 3/1 #10 KB’s Robby ML 7/2

This is one tough race, several recent winners and great drivers making picking one difficult. I’m going with #9 All American Solo. He has won 3 in a row, consistent speed and solid final times. Miller and Morales know how to win with this gelding and wouldn’t expect anything different tonight.

Late News: Finally conquered Saratoga! Handicapped Havre de Grace to win the Woodward, the analysis is at http://blog.horseplayersassociation.org/ Good luck and will see you tomorrow night with the selections for the $25,000 Guaranteed Pick 4 at Balmoral.