Exacta box of the week: Churchill Downs race 6 for Saturday, June 15

Exacta Box of the day for Churchill Downs

Stephen Foster Day at Churchill Downs on Saturday, June 15 is the headline event of the latter half Churchill's spring meet. The Saturday race card features five graded stakes.  Of course the feature race is the Stephen Foster H. (G2) and if you want to make a serious play on the Stephen Foster, race 8, perhaps it would help to build bankroll with a nice exacta score earlier on the card.

Race 6 on Stephen Foster Day at Churchill is the $250,000 Wise Dan (G2) for 2YOs & up at 1 1/16 miles on the grass. With a full field of 14 horses, the race represents the biggest field and best betting opportunity on the 11-race card. With such an evenly-matched big field, the morning line favorites in the race are 5-1, and the race will offer tremendous value in the exactas if you can come up with the right combination.

Churchill Downs Race 6 Exacta Picks

#3 FIRST PREMIO (8-1) has racked up quite a nice record since switching to the grass full time with 3 wins and a second in seven recent turf outings including a stakes win in the Colonel Bradley at Fair Grounds. Off-the-board finishers have come in tougher spots against the likes of Synchrony and Delta Prince, and at distances both longer and shorter. Today’s 1 1/16-mile distance is right up her alley because she owns a perfect 3-for-3 undefeated record at this trip so far. Exits a fourth-place finish here last time in the local prep for this race, the one-mile Opening Verse, but actually took the worst of a three-way place photo and only missed hitting the exacta there by a pair of noses. Has a big chance to turn the tables back at his favorite distance today.

#6 SIEM REP (8-1) comes into this race off an upset victory in Churchill’s Opening Verse stakes at 35-1 odds, perhaps indicating that he has rediscovered his best form from back in the summer of 2018 when he reeled off back-to-back-to-back place finishes in stakes races at Indiana Grand, Ellis Park, and Kentucky Downs. Stole the Opening Verse wire-to-wire after getting loose on the front end, and once again looks like the best and perhaps controlling speed in this spot, as well.

#7 ITSINTHEPOST (5-1) multiple Graded stakes winner is the wild card of this field, coming in off of a 10-month layoff for his first start of 2019. If he’s ready, he could spell trouble for the rest of this field based on his quartet of Grade 2 victories in 2018. Millionaire with 10 career wins routinely runs speed figures that are as fast or faster than these, now he gets a chance to prove whether or not he can do it off a long layoff and outside of California. A definite possibility.

#12 ADMISSION OFFICE (5-1) draws a far outside post but exits his best career race which stamps him as a player in this older turf male division and a legit contender in today’s race. Finished second in the Dixie (G2) on the Preakness undercard at Pimlico, and that effort looks even better considering he lost by only a half-length to Catholic Boy, who is heading back in against Grade 1 competition for the rest of the season and would be an odds-on favorite against this field. Admissions Office is an improving up-and-comer who looks ready to earn his first career Graded stakes victory.

Contention runs deep in the 2019 Wise Dan, but it looks possible to narrow down the 14-horse field to the top four legitimate contenders. With no horse lower than 5-1 odds on the morning line, the exactas will offer excellent value in the race. Box the four top contenders and you should come out a winner with a solid payoff.

Exacta Bet:

$2 Exacta Box 3 – 6 – 7 – 12  = $24

Read Last Week's free exacta bet.