October 17, 2024
OKLAHOMA — By Ed DeRosa
It’s Oklahoma Classic night on Friday at Remington Park, and that means Sooners get to take center stage in Oklahoma City for a 10-race card featuring eight stakes for Oklahoma breds.
Unfortunately, these types of races do tend to favor the favorites, so finding bigger prices can be difficult. The earlier part of the card seems more likely to produce short prices than the back end, so let’s focus on the final pick 3 of the night, which involves races 8, 9 and 10.
Race 8 is the Oklahoma Classic Sprint Stakes, and #2 Fly to the Bank is a favorite I’m excited to bet against.
#5 Breakable Code has run well both on and just off the pace and stretching back out to six furlongs should suit that style against these.
Because we’re against the favorite, though, there are a couple others in here worth trying to spice things up with. #1 Lake Bee will need to go from the rail and has run well at this track and distance. #4 Euromatic looks dangerous as the one who could be closing late to pull an upset.
Race 9 is the Oklahoma Classic Cup for males going 1 1/16 miles, and like its predecessor features an opposable favorite in #5 Winters Lion, who has been facing quality competition but not run a race in awhile that I would say is capable of winning this.
#2 C W Prize has mainly sprinted and been sharp doing this, but connections see fit to try two turns for a bigger purse. His last two attempts around a couple bends were fine but neither was on a track labeled as fast. He is 6-for-10 on fast tracks lifetime and 0-for-2 otherwise.
#4 Flat Hanby chased a fast pace going longer last time in a Grade 3 and should appreciate the class relief here. #7 Number One Dude goes turf to dirt and while he is 0-for-8 at this distance, he does have five seconds.
The last race is the Oklahoma Turf Classic, and it features one of the more likely winners of the night in #4 Tap the Dot, who looks to be better than these as defending champion of one of Oklahoma’s richest turf races. That’s OK, though, we can single this one after beating two morning line favorites previously.
The Bet:
Race 8, $1 pick 3: 1, 4, 5 with 2, 4, 7 with 4 = $9