by Tim Bojarski

Tim Bojarski offers his picks for the $5,000 Pick-4 at The Meadows on May 23, part of the USTA Strategic Wagering program.

The Meadows Pick-4 Races 13-16 Monday, May 23rd, 2011

We have a lot of three-year-olds to choose from today and this early in the year, many are sharpening their skills with stakes in their sites. Let’s see if we can decipher who is on the cusp of success.

The bet is $1 Pick-4: 3567/19/67/3 for a total of $16.

Analysis:

13th Race
3 Fall Bliss scored a big victory at Chester and registered a new lifetime mark of 1.53.2 in the process. He returned to home base to find the nine hole and didn’t really fire. Look for a reversal of fortunes with the inside here.
5 Dranconian also scored a career best of 1.53.2 at Chester the same day as Fall Bliss, but in a different race. He took last week off and returns here demanding respect.
6 Medoland Big Cam qualified with a bang on March 18th with a sparkling 1.51.4 effort, winning by 18! But since, bubkis! He hasn’t raced since May 2nd but did show some signs of life there. He’s hard to bet, but hard to leave out.
7 Home Dragon Again has two “just got there” wins from the outside and has to do that again here.

14th Race
1 Carmel Chinno will dictate the pace and is the one to catch.
9 Fashion Mystery had double bad luck in her 2011 debut; an outside post and interference before the wire. He has closing speed and is able to come from off the pace. Plus he picks up Brett Miller which works for me.

15th Race
6 Bourbon St Hanover can leave and can finish and knows how to win; you can’t ask for more from a horse.
7 Cyclone Ashore seems to like his new connections and rewarded them with a win his first start out after being 0 for 12 for 2011 up till then. Now they are now protecting him, moving into the conditional ranks. That is usually a sign of further improvement.

16th Race
3 Red Hot Scandal is taking a substantial drop in class and moving inside after three right-wing starts. This horse can leave in 26.4 and close in 27.2; he is a price waiting to happen.

Good luck!