Woof. Another goose egg for the boys and with a few short prices to boot. Tough day yesterday, but let’s see if we can bounce back today!

Caleb @CalebWVU

Race 9 – #1 Southlawn: Many bettors will default to Hoosier Philly or Wet Paint in this spot, but I’m not completely sold on either. The former took advantage of an absolute cupcake trip last out, setting absurdly slow fractions early over a wickedly speed favoring surface at Ellis Park en route to a comfortable win. The latter seems more of an Oaklawn specialist dependent on a pace setup, which appears unlikely. Southlawn ran an enormous race in the Fairgrounds Oaks, trouncing the next-out Kentucky Oaks winner and show horses Pretty Mischievous and The Alys Look. She had legitimate trouble in the Oaks, but I also think she just doesn’t care for the Churchill Downs surface. Viewing her past performances, the worst dirt races of her career have been the three races she contested at Churchill. Her Fairgrounds and Ellis form is significantly better, so I’m willing to excuse her flat effort in the Oaks over a surface she may not like. I like her to recapture her Fairgrounds form and get first run on Hoosier Philly in a race that seems likely to be won by a forwardly placed runner.

Josh @CherryDrank

SCRATCHED Race 10 – #2 Talkin Pharoah: Linda Rice is red hot to start the meet and is striking while the iron is hot with the 2 here. Talkin Pharoah won impressively last week at Saratoga and is running back on 7 days, a move in which Rice is a 29% winner with a $2.41 ROI. With a versatile run style, Talkin Pharoah should let the speeds go and sit in that 2nd pack and get first run on the tiring speeds. He won an open allowance last time out, while many of the short prices are coming out of state-bred company. The ML favorite #8 Accretive was aggressively campaigned last year, but this is the sharpest distance he’s had to run, and is a closer who might leave himself too much to do. 10-1 ML might be a pipedream with how hot Linda has been, but hopefully, we get 5-1ish and get a good mid-price home.

Race 6 – #5 Wakanaka: The G3 Caress drew a few really nice turf sprinters, and initially, I was a little confused about why Wakanaka was entered here. Taking a closer look, Wakanaka has the best last-out TFUS figure and I think her run style will fit well in this race as off the pace and outside has been the place to be on the turf so far this meet. She has been facing legit G1 horses the past few times out and finds a softer spot here. The old adage, “Don’t take a short price on a horse doing something for the first time,” doesn’t apply as it looks like you’ll get a decent price here at 8-1 on the ML.

Mark @Two_Turns

Race 2 – #3 Inspeightoftrainer: I love chasing dirtied up or suspect form and this 2nd race on Saturday has a ton of it. Both the #2 Deputy Connect and #4 Paddington show massive last out tops that if repeated should make them major players in this field, but those figures both appear to be slop aided which makes them quite suspect. Inspeightoftrainer has the exact opposite situation, the gelding has caught an off track 4 of his last 6 and just didn’t seem to handle it. In the other two races where he caught a fast track, he showed up with nice wins that if repeated would make him a major player here. Adding to the appeal, you’re getting the “other” horse from the white-hot Linda Rice barn and Lezcano who was on for the last win sticks. Given all those factors you have a very nice value play at around morning line odds of 12-1.