It is quite literally a rich day of racing at Gulstream Park on Saturday, as it will feature six Graded Stakes with total prize money equaling $16.7 million dollars. Culminating with the 12th and final race of the day, the 3rd annual Pegasus World Cup Invitational with a purse of $9 million. Here then is how the Daily Racing Blog sees that race:
Clearly CITY OF LIGHT and ACCELERATE are the stand-outs (rightfully so), but unfortunately they will be wagered on quite heavily, therefore offering no Value. Readers of DRB know that this is unacceptable to us, so we hope it plays out in this order…or there-about.
10. AUDIBLE, 10-1 (Todd Pletcher/Flavien Prat): Last year’s third-place Kentucky Derby finisher will be back at the site of his 2018 Florida Derby (G1) victory. There will be Value given his defeat in his Pegasus prep race, the Harlan’s Holiday (G3). You have to respect his human connections, and maybe they were gearing him toward this one all the while.
3. CITY OF LIGHTS, 5-2 (Michael McCarthy/Javier Castellano): The Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner has proven versatile and beat race favorite ACCELERATE the last time they ran at this distance in the 2018 Oaklawn Handicap (G2).
5. ACCELERATE, 9-5 (John Sadler/Joel Rosario): The Horse of the Year finalist swept California’s Grade 1 races for older horses in 2018 and capped it with a win outside his base in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs.
12. PATTERNRECOGNITION, 10-1 (Chad Brown/Jose Ortiz): He could just be getting good for Chad Brown, who has notched consecutive Graded scores in the Kelso (G2) and Cigar Mile (G1) with this 5-year-old who hadn’t tried a Stakes Race until September.
4. SEEKING THE SOUL, 12-1 (Dallas Stewart/John Velazquez): A Grade 1 winner back in 2017, he ran in the 2018 Pegasus as well. He finished 2nd in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile to CITY OF LIGHT while beating third place finisher BRAVAZO.
1. BRAVAZO, 12-1 (D. Wayne Lukas/Luis Saez): This colt (now four) showed up at every big spot as a sophomore and contended against older in his final two starts of 2018. He has to break through at some point, right?
With that info in mind, DRB will wager two Trifecta Keys, the first with the 10 on top of the 3–5–12–4–1. The second being with 12 on top of the 10–3–5–4–1. Then we will play a three horse Exacta Box using the 10–12–3. And we will make Win bets on any in this group who have Post Time odds that are double digits.
Good luck no matter how you play it, but always be in search of Value. NBC TV will be broadcasting the races live at Gulfstream Park from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m.
