By Joe Quillen
Santa Anita Park Race 7 – Irish O’Brien Stakes
Top of the mornin’ to ya and Happy St. Patrick’s Day, as we head to Santa Anita for the Sunday edition of Quills Picks Winners for the appropriately named Irish O’Brien Stakes going six and a half furlongs down the hill. Get your green beers ready as post time for this race on the green will be approximately 7:04 pm Eastern time.
Favored in this race of seven older females is the 4 Chancery Way (2/1 morning line) who returns from a two-month break after just missing in a state bred stakes race. She is all speed, no matter the surface. She has gone for the lead on dirt, on turf and on synthetic. She goes for the lead in one and two turn races. The modus operandi is go for the lead and catch me if you can.
The mare that defeated the favorite that day in January is the 5 Rose Maddox (5/2 ML). Toss the last race on the dirt last month. Her preferred surface is the green, and she has won down the hill twice in her career. She will keep the leaders in sight and ready to pounce when they cross over to the main portion of the turf course on their run down the stretch.
Stay and Scam (#3, 5/1 ML) does appear to be the horse that will challenge the favorite for the lead. But she can be tactical with that speed and be a couple of lengths back as well. It will be interesting to see where she is when the come down the hill. If she doesn’t challenge for the lead, it could be all Chancery Way.
The 2 Chimosa (4/1 ML) ran well last out going seven furlongs on the dirt and run well two back in that same race that the other horses mentioned have been in on January 13. She didn’t miss by much on the turf and could be worth a play here.
Sometimes when you have a race like this, I’m looking for consistency. The mare that has run the same race over and over again is the 4 Chancery Way, and I will gladly eat some chalk to get another winner after missing by about three inches yesterday at Oaklawn. Rose Maddox flies down the lane but cannot get to the front running Chancery Way today. I’ll call this 4-5-3-2 and my play is $20 to win on the 4. Good luck everyone, and slainte!
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