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Laurel Park: Spot plays and horses to watch, November 18

by | Nov 18, 2017 | Breaking, Handicapping, Maryland

Rapid Dan

Rapid Dan (#2) cruised to victory in an allowance at Laurel Park. Photo by The Racing Biz.

Gary Quill is taking a brief hiatus from his GQ Approach full-card picks and analysis. In his stead, we present daily spot plays and horses to watch. Good luck!

First post today 12:30 p.m. The late Pick 5 has no carryover. The Super Hi 5 has a carryover of $10,358.60. The Jackpot Rainbow Pick 6 has a carryover of $396.44. Nine races are on the card, three scheduled for the turf.

Check out the GQ’s Approach podcast below, focusing on maidens!

  • The seventh is a Maryland-bred allowance for three-year-olds and up going six furlongs on the main track. The morning line favorite in here is #6 Tricky Lion (2-1), who certainly looks competitive; his last dirt try, three back, netted a second-place finish behind the talented Lewisfield (now with a record of 4-3-0-1 and three straight wins by open lengths), and his two interim efforts on turf are just fine. But he’s also a veteran of 33 races still hunting a first allowance win who went off at 50-1 in that last dirt try, all of which makes short odds a little bit of a stick-in-your-craw proposition. Of more interest (and better odds) are a couple of sophomores looking to move through their conditions. #1 Eastern Bay (6-1) ran a pretty good second last out against similar, albeit on the turf, in his first try in eight months. No reason he can’t move forward off that race, and his resume includes a solid fourth, beaten by three, in the Frank Whiteley Stakes in January. Notably, regular rider Horacio Karamanos jumps ship to get on #7 Dundalk (8-1). Another of interest is #4 Bestkindoftrouble (6-1); the Tim Keefe trainee hasn’t been worse than third in three career starts, including against open allowance foes last out, and his maiden-breaker came over a runner, Sue Me, who broke his maiden next out. Angel Cruz is up.

  • The eighth is a second-level allowance for fillies and mares three and up going 5 1/2 furlongs on the turf. Wouldn’t expect much betting value here, but our eyes will by on #1a More’n Likely (9-5). The pricey Arnaud Delacour trainee — $275,000 as a yearling — didn’t make the races until this August but is two-for-two in her brief career. She took her maiden easily in an off-the-turf event at Delaware Park and followed it up with a length-and-change win over the Christophe Clement-trained NY shipper Quality Time after getting a helpful rail run under Feargal Lynch, and those two were well clear of the rest. She’s a half-sister to 2014 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner Hootenanny, so she’s bred to be any kind, and her efforts to date haven’t done anything to dispel that notion. Lynch will ride once again.