$15,000 Guaranteed Pick 4 at Balmoral Selection ... Chicken dinner tonight!

Here we are, another week of great horse racing, there are seven Grade 1 races scheduled for the weekend. Saratoga with four, Del Mar two and Monmouth with one and a slew of Grade 2 races and Calder is hosting a Saturday of 2YO stake races. Right know I haven’t decided which two races I will handicap for HANA, so if you readers have any suggestions leave a comment. Last weekend, I handicapped the Del Mar Oaks and Sky Classic. Two very interesting races, the Oaks showed us how good Summer Soiree really is holding off Nereid and Star Billing and in the Sky Classic a shocker with Kara’s Orientation just plain ran away from the field. I believe at one time she was 17 lengths in the lead down the back stretch and won by 2+ lengths.

Also, I’m in the last two weeks of Survival At The Shore contest at Monmouth Park. After 120 races I have had 28 winners (24%) and now in the top 20%. It has been a marathon, and like the contest is called, it is a Survival! Now on to harness racing, it is Wednesday Night and that means …

$15,000 Guaranteed Pick 4 at Balmoral Park in Crete IL. Last week we hit a small one of $260 on our $27 budget so we have a bit of profit to play this week. The races are 7-10 and the takeout is a small 14%, so let’s get started with the selections:

Race 7 #2 Mimi McBride ML 10/1 #5 BS Mary’s Delight ML 6/1 #6 Toshie Delight ML 5/2

Like Toshie Delight here, we had her last week and she finished 2nd, real consistent speed and other than Mimi McBride is the fastest currently.

Race 8 #1 Nannah Montana ML 6/1 #3 Kitty O’Brien ML 5/2 #5 No Doubt ML 5/2

This is a tough race, like both the #3 and #5. Leaning to the #5 due to strong speed figures and won last out and Todd Warren is staying in the buggy.

Race 9 #2 Mearl Finn ML 5/2 #7 Perky B Skipalong ML 6/1 #8 Mattjestic Help ML 6/1

The #2 and #8 were part of our winning night last Saturday. The safe bet is with the #2 but going say #8 in this spot. She is dropping down in class, two strong efforts with Leroy Miller driving and knocked off some serious time in her last race. She won’t get off at 30/1 like last Saturday but sitting in the 8th hole she might get overlooked again.

Race 10 #6 Racy Traci Place ML 15/1

This seems like a strange place for the single. But she is dropping down in class, David Fagan has a decent ROI and trains as well as drives. She has consistent speed of late, and while a non winner of 12 here at Balmoral, she just feels right in this spot.

Good luck and “here they come”

$12,841 Pick 4 winner at Balmoral Sunday!

We rolled into Balmoral with one of two Pick 4’s under our belt for the week. Sunday was the Guaranteed $25,000 Pick 4. Yesterday, I handicapped the four races and listed the ticket. Keeping the Pick 4 ticket to $27, this allows us to use ten horses in any combination. Right now I have been using the 1 – 3 – 3 – 3 method. The concept is to find one strong favorite to single and then spreading out over three horses in the other three races. The idea in handicapping for three horses is to find the favorite, a solid horse with odds around 3/1 to 8/1 and then the best longshot. The goal is for the single to win, of course, and have the largest payouts win the other three races for a big Pick 4 ticket. Worse case, if the favorites win out over the four races we walk away with something. Well last night Balmoral had a super large Pick 4 ticket, $12,841.50. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the right longshots on the ticket. Here is the recap:

R7 #Temperment won going off at 11/1. When I looked at this race, I considered her but shifted over to Devachan. It was a tough decision and no regrets.

R8 #Detailer with odds of 10/1 was the winner. This is another one that I took a long look at but chose Classy Chassy instead. With these two longshots hitting you knew this Pick 4 was going to be large.

R9 #3 Reilly’s Daughter went off as the favorite and shot down the rail to win. This one was on our ticket. Little surprised she went off the favorite the ML had her around 5/1.

R10 #10 Miss Kelley Lynne (who I had in the 50 cent Trifecta) rolled in the winner at 23/1!! I had this race for the single with Forcryingoutloud who finished 2nd. Missed the 50 cent Trifecta with Osage coming in 5th.

As I mentioned before the payout for the Pick 4 was $12,841.50 a monster night! That now leaves us with a profit of $186.10. See you on Wednesday for the $15,000 Guaranteed Pick 4 at Balmoral.