How to bet Turfway Park's $1,653 Super High 5 carryover

If you’re a handicapper who isn’t afraid of a challenge, then we encourage you to pursue the $1,653 Super High 5 carryover up for grabs on Saturday at Turfway Park.

Turfway regularly puts together tough betting opportunities for the Super High 5, a pricey $1 wager offered on the final race of each day. But Saturday’s offering looks more formidable than usual.

For starters, there’s the field size. The Super High 5 is available for betting in Race 8, a $5,000 maiden claimer for non-winners of two races lifetime. A dozen fillies and mares have been entered in the one-mile Tapeta test, which means there are 95,040 possible outcomes to consider.

Then there’s the difficulty in finding a horse to build tickets around. #10 Pure Fashion (3-1) is the morning line favorite after rallying to victory in a $7,500 maiden claimer racing one mile at Turfway, but facing winners for the first time is a question mark, and outside posts haven’t been performing as well as inside posts over one mile at Turfway.

The same bias against outside posts could affect #12 Smarty Artie (10-1), a live longshot who ran third over this track, distance, and class level on Dec. 3. Smarty Artie has since finished around midfield in a pair of $7,500 claimers at Turfway and figures to produce a more competitive effort while dropping back down the class ladder. But can she overcome starting from the outermost post?

Even the more favorably drawn #5 Machisima (7-2) has questions to answer. She posted a strong 70 Brisnet Speed rating when second over this track, distance, and class level on Dec. 26, but her form has regressed in two subsequent starts (including one over these same conditions), so she’ll need to turn things around if she’s going to vie for victory. The same goes for #6 Upside Down (5-1), who has been beaten by double-digit margins in each of her last three starts.

So who does this leave? #8 Hot Dame (12-1) has drawn a bit wider than we might prefer, but she did finish ahead of Machisima when third in a $5,000 claimer over one mile at Turfway last month. And #9 Tami Ann (12-1) finished less than a length behind Hot Dame on that occasion, marking her second on-the-board finish from as many starts at the $5,000 claiming level.

This race is so tough, we’re going to keep our investment well under $100 and hope for the best. We’ll lean against Machisma and Upside Down, favor Hot Dame, Pure Fashion, and Smarty Artie, and let the chips fall where they may.

• $1 Super High 5: 8,10,12 with 8,10,12 with 8,9,10,12 with 5,8,9,10,11,12 with 5,8,9,10,11,12 ($72)

Good luck!