All-Stakes Pick 3 for Churchill Downs on Sunday, June 30

Five black-type races will help comprise an excellent card at Churchill Downs on Sunday. I will focus on the latter trio of stakes races, which is a challenging sequence that could yield a healthy return.

Churchill Downs Sunday Pick 3 Wager 

$1 Pick 3: 2,7,8,9 with 1,5,9,10 with 6,9 ($32)

Churchill Downs Sunday Pick 3 Analysis

Race 8 – Anchorage S.

A cast of nine fillies and mares will run 1 1/8 miles on the lawn to get the wager underway. #2 Heavenly Sunday (3-1) is a must-use for Brad Cox. The consistently good daughter of Candy Ride is a graded winner on the surface, and she comes off of a pair of tries over yielding ground in advance of Sunday. She will be prominent from the break in her third run of the season under Florent Geroux.

I will also include the outside trio of horses to get through leg one. Tropical Park Oaks victress #7 Be My Sunshine (6-1), Modesty S. (G3) upsetter #8 Fast as Flight (7-2), and #9 Walkathon (8-1) all make sense to me if the top pick falters late.

Race 9 – Bashford Manor S.

This six-furlong dash for juveniles is not for the faint of heart, with six of the 13 entered coming off of wire-to-wire victories. I don’t have a strong top selection and will include multiple runners in the dash. Steve Asmussen’s #1 Spiralizer (5-1) didn’t earn a huge Brisnet Speed number for his debut score on the oval, but the $550,000 son of fine sire Twirling Candy did it the right way. He has a very tricky rail post slot, but I expect him to improve on Sunday with a clear voyage.

#5 Bodacious (9-2) earned a whopping 102 Speed number for his debut tally at Santa Anita in May for Jorge Periban. It would be foolish to ignore the California-bred with Joel Rosario taking the reins. #9 War Tax (8-1) romped at Aqueduct in his unveiling and interestingly lands in this spot with Jose Gomez coming in for the ride. The Empire State-bred could be any kind going forward. #10 Heat (4-1) was a smart first-out winner on the synthetic and was flattered when the horse he defeated came back to graduate next time out. The Mark Casse charge gets Irad Ortiz Jr., as well.

Race 10 – Hanshin S.

The one-turn event has 11 signed on for the tilt and is a tricky closing leg of the sequence. While I could make a case for numerous horses in the well-matched group, a pair of contenders stick out to me the most, and I’ll finish off the play with the duo.

#6 Extra Anejo (5-1) has never run a poor race and looks to annex his first stakes win for Asmussen. The lightly raced son of Into Mischief was a sharp allowance victor off the lone absence last time out, and the bay could be the one with a forward move in the contest with Tyler Gaffalione retaining the ride.

Cherie DeVaux’s #9 Cagliostro (6-1) split a very good pair when an excellent second in the Blame S. (G3) on the surface most recently. The Upstart colt cuts back in trip after trying nine panels second off the bench, and the expected race shape seems ideal for his running style, in my opinion. Flavien Prat taking the reins is always a positive.