LOUISIANA — By Ed DeRosa

The largest purse on Louisiana Champions Day slate is the $150,000 Louisiana Champions Day Classic Stakes. However, the most lucrative races for bettors might be later on the card.

The Classic drew just a field of six horses and is scheduled as Race 5 on the 13-race card that features six other stakes for Bayou breds. The Pick 3 involving races 10-12 includes 37 entries across three races at six furlongs on the dirt for each. It is this all-stakes dirt sprint Pick 3 that has our attention.

The Louisiana Champions Day Ladies Sprint kicks things off as Race 10 at 5:30 p.m. ET. I’m excited to lead things off with this race because I think we can get through it using just two horses: #3 Basalt Street and #5 Free Like a Girl. That means we’re not using #4 Ova Charged, who is 3-to-1 on the morning line despite not racing for 34 weeks. I’ll bet against her being ready for some quick female sprinters.

Basalt Street is the more interesting of the two horses I’m using because she is a healthy 8-to-1 on the morning line. Bettors might overlook her form given recent synthetic and turf races, but she is fast on dirt–having won a pair of races around this time last year at Fair Grounds.

Leg 2 is Race 11, the Louisiana Champions Day Lassie Stakes, which attracted a field of 13 two-year-olds, and we have our eye on a single in #8 Guitar Solo, who won her career debut by 14 ¼ lengths. That came in sloppy conditions, and bettors are often warned about betting a horse to replicate a bit off track performance, but she overcame additional adversity winning from post 10, and the 9-to-2 morning line is a fair price to find out if she really is that good.

Hopefully we’ll get to race 12, the Louisiana Champions Day Sprint Stakes, with a chance to hit the Pick 3. This is the most challenging race of the sequence, as it drew a full field of 14. The far outside horse, #14 Bron and Bow, is the most likely winner, but we’re on some logical horses preceding this, so it’d be nice to spring an upset here.

#1 Hooray Austin should be able to use his speed from the rail. He chased some fast ones in the Southwest racing circuit and returns to Fair Grounds where he ran well in the early part of the meet last year. #7 Autumns Strong Man figures to race more mid-pack, and if things get spicy up front then he could be the one closing at a nice price. Both horses are 12-to-1 on the morning line.

My base Pick 3 ticket is 3, 5, 8 with 1, 7, 14. That’s $6 per $1 bet. Also as each race comes up, I’d bet any of the horses listed at their morning line price or better.

Have fun, and good luck!