Gulfstream Park: How to bet the $3,814 Super High 5 carryover

Want to start Preakness Day on a high note? Then check out Race 1 at Gulfstream Park (post time 12:50 p.m. ET), which features a $3,814 carryover in the $1 Super High 5. Wouldn’t winning a share of a carryover be a nice way to kick off an action-packed afternoon?

The slim morning line favorite is #4 Fortheloveofart (3-1), but the three-year-old gelding doesn’t look unbeatable while facing his elders for the first time. Two starts back, he ran second in a maiden special weight for Florida-breds racing one mile over the Gulfstream lawn, but he didn’t fare as well in a $50,000 maiden optional claimer last time out, fading to finish ninth.

The next two choices on the morning line might be better bets. The first is #2 Chenti (7-2), a five-year-old son of War Front who exits a pair of placed efforts over this course and class level. On May 5, he rallied strongly down the homestretch of a 7 1/2-furlong contest, gaining 3 1/4 lengths in the final furlong to finish second by half a length.

Chenti, in turn, finished half a length clear of #5 Acamar (4-1), who carved out the pace before weakening in the final furlong. The son of Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Street Sense has set the pace in four of his last six starts and looms as a front-end danger in Saturday’s contest.

Much the same can be said of #9 Ranseur (6-1), a three-year-old with a shot to outrun expectations. In his lone grass run to date, Ranseur employed pace-tracking tactics to finish third in a $25,000 maiden claimer for three-year-olds racing 7 1/2 furlongs at Gulfstream. Claimed out of that event by trainer Joseph Orseno, Ranseur followed up with a pacesetting fifth-place try in a $35,000 maiden claimer over the Gulfstream Tapeta track, his most recent race.

Orseno wins at a sharp 19% rate with horses running back for the second time following a claim, and jockey Edgar Perez (a 23% winner teaming up with Orseno over the last two months) is named to ride.  These win percentages are noteworthy when you consider how Orseno’s overall win percentage hasn’t exceeded 13% in any of the last four years. Returning to grass can put Ranseur in the hunt, even while facing older rivals for the first time.

So how should we bet the Super High 5? Let’s key Chenti on top, count on Acamar and Ranseur to finish in the top four, and spread deeper for the remaining slots:

• $1 Super High 5: 2 with 5,9 with 5,9 with 1,4,10 with 1,4,7,10,11 ($24)
• $1 Super High 5: 2 with 5,9 with 1,4,10 with 5,9 with 1,4,7,10,11 ($24)
  Total: $48

Good luck!