At the Gate – Friday

I wrote yesterday that I thought we had a shot of hitting the early Pick 5 at Aqueduct if we could somehow beat Pecan Pattie in the fourth race, who was 1-5 on the morning line in the fourth race.

Lo and behind we did just that, with my top pick Rattlesnake Bite pulling off the upset and returning $18.40.

The only problem was I completely whiffed in the opener, with Can U Handle This winning and paying $15.60. Turns out I really could not handle that.

My second choice Magai won the second race as the favorite at $4.60, and my second choice Where’s Rudy ($9.80) won the third race. My top picks won the final two races of the sequence, Rattlesnake Bite ($18.40) and Letterman at $7.30.

The $1 Pick 5 returned a hefty $5,750.50.

At least the early Pick 4 starting in the second race was a good back up, and that returned $901.50.

We have another chalk in today’s early Pick 5, Arewehavingfunyet the 2-5 chalk in the second race. I’ll try to beat the chalk with Elizabeth Nicole my top pick.

We have some short fields making up the early Pick 5, betting interests of five, five, eight (five after scratches) seven and then a full field of 12 to cap things off.

Coming up tomorrow I will take a look at the richest race of the weekend, the $1 million Charles Town Classic (G2) from my old stomping grounds in West Virginia.

Now is the perfect time to purchase my Monthly Package for just $99.95. It gives you a month of Aqueduct daily, Best Plays Report each Saturday and Sunday and my Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby Day Reports.

To purchase my Aqueduct Report for Friday click here.

Here is the opening race from Aqueduct to get the day off to a good start:

AQU Race 1 Md Sp Wt (1:30 ET)
#4 Maven 1-1
#1 Analyze Your Risk / 1a Managing Risk 8-5
#5 Lebda 10-1
#3 Woman Not Easy 7-2

Analysis: Maven
is sent out by Ward who had an American Pharoah juvie open up on Wednesday and get run down by a Pletcher duo that ran one -two and looking for him to turn the tables here. This colt is also sired by the Triple Crown winner, out of the stakes winner Richies Party Girl ($357,385), her first foal to race.

Analyze Your Risk was a cheap buy for this barn, just $25,000. He is by Overanalyze out of a Congrats mare that ash dropped one other foal to race, not yet a winner. Entrymate Managing Risk is out of an Elusive Quality mare that has dropped five foals to race, all winners. They both prepped at Palm Beach Downs for their debut here. Pletcher is 24% winners with first timers.

Wagering
WIN: #4 to win at 6-5 or better.
EX: 4 / 1,5
TRI: no play

Today’s Featured Race of the Day from Aqueduct:

AQU Race 8 OClm $60,000SAL (5:15 ET)
#3 Rally Cap 9-5
#4 Stink Man 5-2
#2 It's Mo Joke 6-1
#6 Kadens Courage 3-1

Analysis: Rally Cap
chased the early pace and could not get past the top pair in a third-place finish last out as the beaten favorite. The Handal trainee returns here as a gelding and has shown improvement in his numbers with each of his outings. The gelding popped a bullet work on April 11 and owns a solid pace profile throughout. Looks tough here as the short priced favorite.

Stink Man was well backed in his debut against $30,000 state breds when sent out by Magner barn and he did not disappoint, pressing the early pace and drawing clear late to win by 2 3/4 lengths. He was claimed out of the race by the Rice barn that is 30% winners first off the claim. The three that exited the race to run back did not fare well. Still he does not need to move forward much off his last effort to be a major threat here.

Wagering
WIN: #3 to win at 8-5 or better.
EX: 3,4 / 2,3,4,6
TRI: 3,4 / 2,3,4,6 / 1,2,3,4,6

Live Longshots:
These are price plays for exotic players looking to find a couple of extra contenders to use in their trifecta and superfecta wagers. Or for those with smaller bankrolls, you might want to get in a small win-place wager.

Aqueduct
R1: #5 Lebda 10-1
R2: #2 Laur Net 10-1
R2: #1 Preziosa 8-1
R3: #1 Her Royal Highness 8-1
R5: #3 Wish Upon 10-1
R5: #1 Shady Shady Shady 10-1
R6 #3 Analyze the Odds 12-1
R7: #9 Have Another 10-1
R7: #5 Compagno 10-1
R9: #7 Presto Court 12-1

Good luck today!