Bret Battaglia sets the morning line at Turfway Park in Florence and provides daily picks and comments for the Trib during the live racing meets.
Picks and comments for Saturday, March 26
RACE 1
RUSHIN’ RUBIETTA was a winner at this level three starts back and looks best against a very well-matched field. HERE’S JONNY shows three in the money finishes in his last three starts over the track and looks like the one to beat. LI’L J was beaten as the favorite last time out, but still looks capable of running well here.
RACE 2
BOBBY MAC has shown some good form in Ohio recently and will be tough to beat here if he can handle the switch in surfaces. CRASH MAGEE runs coupled with Bobby Mac. He should be able to pick up the pieces if his stablemate can’t. PEACE AT LAST comes in off of two solid efforts and is a threat.
RACE 3
TIA CHUY showed some improvement on the move to this bottom level in her last start and is the choice for the win here. CASH DANCE has been beaten as the favorite in two of her last three and looks like a contender again tonight. PROFITRESS shows two solid efforts in her last two starts over the track.
RACE 4
GYPSY ANGEL ROW moves back down in class after a disappointing effort against allowance company in her last start. She ran a nice second behind an impressive winner at this same level before that one, give her a slight edge here. BISTRO MONCUR comes in off a nice maiden win in her first start over the track. Any improvement off of that effort would make her tough to beat again tonight. MY CALENDAR GIRL has been in the money in three straight and shouldn’t mind the move back to sprinting.
RACE 5
RUN RIGHT AT IT ran a close third at this same level in his first start over the track and gets Jimenez back in the irons tonight. STRONG RESPONSE has shown some decent form over the track here at Turfway this year and is a contender. POISON APPLE has a chance.
RACE 6
CALL ME ANNA shows a win and a second since moving back down to this bottom level and should be able to pick up the win tonight. SPEND AND SPREE has six wins over the track and looks like a contender. IMAGE OF GRACE has shown some improvement in her last two starts and could be dangerous here.
RACE 7
TALK ABOUT KITTEN drops in for a tag after a nice third place finish in his debut and is the choice to pick up the maiden win here. BALTIC ART didn’t show much in his first start on the grass at Gulfstream, but drops in class and should move forward tonight. FROST OR FRIPPERY is a first time starter who posted a sharp work over the track recently.
RACE 8
WAR RANGER has won four of his last five starts and should be able to pick up the win here despite the move up in class. RELENTLESS SPIRIT has won two of his last four starts over the track and looks like the one to beat. PROVEN WARRIOR moves back up in class after winning last time out when he was claimed.
RACE 9
CLASSY TEACHER was no match for the winner last time out, but looked sharp drawing off to break her maiden by six before that one. A repeat of either of those efforts would make her tough to beat again tonight. CLASSIC PROFILE makes her first start since September and shows some solid works for Maker over the track since that one. SCAT LADY comes in off of two solid efforts and has to be considered.
RACE 10
DOUBLAS B ran a solid race last time out after having been off for over a year and should move forward off of that one. Give him a slight edge in a wide-open field. SIMEON was second against similar last time out and would be no surprise here. CAR FIFTY FOUR has been third in four straight and can’t be left out of the gimmicks.