By Joe Quillen
Tuesday 2/27/24 – Parx Race 6
We stay at Parx for Tuesday’s Quills Picks Winners race as we have older horses are going six and a half furlongs. This is a starter allowance $25,000, which means that if your horse was entered in a claiming race of $25k or less over a certain period of time, your horse is eligible. That’s the main condition in today’s race. There are other conditions added to this race, which some tracks do to make sure they get enough entries in a race.
At most race tracks you definitely have to look at the weather forecast when you are looking at the races and the track should be dry for today’s race. As of when I started writing this article, a burst of rain will not occur until after sunset, which is well beyond the sixth race, slated for a 2:20 pm post time here in suburban Philadelphia, and if you are playing the entire card, should not effect your handicapping later on in the card. But one tip I will give to those new to the game of horse racing is if weather does look iffy, don’t be afraid to look at some basic weather information, because you never know when in this scenario, if a track goes from fast to muddy or sloppy and change your initial plans looking over a race or an entire program.
For me today, I’m looking long before this race occurs, but you the reader have the benefit of looking at my thoughts and go with what I think or have that last minute variable that may change everything. I’ll look at this race as a fast track, which should be the case today.
The morning line favorite in this race is the 4 Mr Sandman (3/1 ML). He ran well drawing off with this same type of field so win last time out first time off of the claim. He not only will have a great chance to repeat here, but he will see a couple of familiar foes in this race in number 5 Professor Kool (9/2 ML) and the 7 Coles Conundrum (5/1 ML).
Professor Kool rallied wide last out in this common race to finish second to Mr Sandman. Like the 4, he is a sprint specialist here and should really like this distance today. Coles Conundrum was first race off of a six-month layoff last time out was steadied around the 3/8 pole and had traffic troubles here. He gets an extra half furlong here today which should benefit him seeing that both his career wins are seven-furlong races here at Parx.
The 8 Power Agenda (7/2 ML) should be on the lead here from the outside. He has won three of his last four races racing distances of six and six and a half furlongs and will be very familiar with the combination of track and distance. He is four for eight lifetime at Parx with 2 thirds.
The 3 Batter Up Bud looks like the best of the rest here as he will hope for a speed duel on the front end. He is shortening up to one turn here for his first sprint since last Arpil. But he ran most recently just 15 days ago.
In the end, I like Power Agenda’s consistency and ability to run on the lead here. But I cannot igore the fact that right next to him to his left is a horse that had all kinds of issues in his last race. Coles Conundrum needed that last race and it will help him win this race today.
I’ll call this race 7-8-4-3, and my play is $20 to win on the 7. Good luck everyone, and I will catch you tomorrow with another Quills Picks Winners.
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