By Joe Quillen
Thursday 2/29/24 – Gulfstream Park 8
Let’s leap over to Gulfstream Park for Leap Day today as nine three-year-old maidens will go seven and a half furlongs on the turf course. Post time for this race is approximately 4:36 pm Eastern time.
Favored in this race is the 1 Coinvest (8/5 morning line) and he comes in after getting caught at the wire in his debut. There isn’t much in the way of speed in this race so as long as he can handle starting from the rail, he should be graduating today.
The wild card in the race is the 2 Assertor (8/1 ML) who appears to be working nicely for the debut. Keep an eye on this horse because the sire Maclean’s Music’s offspring win 16% of the time with first time starters, and the trainer wins 22% of the time with first timers. If the mornings translate to the afternoons for this firster, it won’t be that easy for the favorite.
The 4 Oscarworthy (3/1 ML) has an excuse for his debut as he was bumped around at the start of his race. The experience of that debut race will help as well as a clean start.
The 9 Themanupfront (5/1 ML) may try to go with the 1 here as he’s shown consistent speed on all three of Gulfstream’s surfaces. It appears that if he’s on the front, he might burn out both himself and the 1 out.
At first, I was going to say take the 1 and eat some chalk. But seeing that the 9 might be on the lead with him. Considering that these horses are inexperienced, I think they go a little too fast. I’ll call this 2-4-1-9 as the 2 Assestorwill assert his way down the lane to win in his debut race over Oscarworthy. My play is $20 to win on the 2.
Good luck everyone, and I’ll see you tomorrow as we march into a new month here with Quills Picks Winners.
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