Balmoral Park Pick 4, Races 9-12, Saturday, April 30, 2011

I hit the Pick 4 at Maywood Thursday night, $138.50 payoff, and my ticket was $48 so the profit was $90.50. That gave me four wins and a profit so far since this series started, two wins at Balmoral, one at Northfield, and one at Maywood.

Tonight I’ve got two tickets for a total of $30.

$1 play: 35/1A5/12/569 = $24
$1 play: 35/5/1/569 = $6

Analysis:

9th Race: Six-horse field here and I’m using the two likely favorites, Fort Silky, who beat similar in last two starts, and My Boy David, the classy veteran who has $1.3 million in earnings and faced tougher at Hoosier last time out. He missed by a nose to Fort Silky two back.

10th Race: This race is wide open but I’ve narrowed it down to two. Leanmean Normajean has post eight but is 1A and part of an entry. She doesn’t win often and should be a price but gets a catch driver in Dale Hiteman who has been bringing in quite a few longshot winners. Ellamakailey had a nice 3-year-old season here last year and finished in :26.4 with a sharply improved effort in her third start off a layoff last week; now she drops and is the one to beat. I singled her on the smaller ticket.

11th Race: Fox Valley Gambler was racing poorly in December and took a needed vacation. He returned with a big effort, missing by a nose last week and he is the class of the field and a potential single. Look Yankee is 10-1 on the morning line and should go off as a longshot based on his overall record but he rallied in an improved effort last week so I’m using him here at a price.

12th Race: Two contenders are 3-year-olds returning off layoffs. Dry Creek Striker has post six off two fine qualifiers and he showed some ability in stakes races last year. Executive Force qualified well for a good barn and he finished second in 1:52.1 last summer, and that is quick for this NW3 level. He should be a faster horse this year. I’m also using Jackson Berlow. He showed little in return last week but he had been out of action for a few weeks and may have needed the race, which was against tougher in a potential key race that produced a 43-1 upset winner last night.

Here is how I rank the contenders.

9th Race: 3-5-2
10th Race: 5-1A-3-8
11th Race: 1-2-8
12th Race: 6-5-9