By Joe Quillen
Will Rogers Race 7 – TRAO Classic Sprint Stakes
We stay at Will Rogers for the Tuesday edition of Quills Picks Winners and today we have seven Oklahoma-bred horses sprinting six furlongs in the TRAO Classic Sprint Stakes. It should be sunny tomorrow, which hopefully means a dry track for this race which will go to the post at 4:57 pm Eastern time.
Favored in today’s race is the 2 Fly to the Bank (5/2 morning line) who returns to the races today after a four-month break. He is a gelding who is familiar to the state bred races, and is the defending champion here. He runs well no matter the track, whether it is Will Rogers, Fair Meadows Tulsa, or Remington. He shouldn’t be too far off the front, but he has shown he can win on the lead as well. He’s very versatile and could be dangerous here.
It appears that the speed in this race are in the stalls directly next to the favorite. The 1 Connors Outlaw (3/1 ML) drew the rail and will try to take advantage of the quickest trip around the track by riding the rail. He comes in after tiring at Sam Houston about seven weeks ago. He is very familiar with some of the horses in this race and the Oklahoma bred races offered.
The 3 Yankee Indian (6/1 ML) may have had something go wrong in his last race as he was not able to get the lead early on and just dropped anchor and finished dead last at Remington. He probably needed the break and should be ready to go here.
The 4 Our Cornerstone (5/1 ML) won two weeks ago and should be not far off the leaders. He should enjoy the dueling leaders as he should be right off of them.
The 7 C W Prize (4/1 ML) won three weeks ago after a three month layoff and should be even better in the second race off of the layoff here. He is the closer in this race and will have targets to pass in the lane.
The 6 Tommyhawk (6/1 ML) shortens ho from a mile in his return to the races and is a pro at the six furlong distance. He should be on the board at the end, but I don’t think he will win this, as he is 0 for 12 at Will Rogers with two runner ups and seven thirds.
I think C W Prize will be the horse closing in this race and win it. Our Cornerstone will pass the dueling leaders in the stretch but not hold off the 7 here. I’ll call this 7-4-2-6 and my play is $20 to win on the 7. Good luck everyone!
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