Let 8 Ride Returns to Arlington

Race 8 is a big deal today at Arlington International Racecourse, as the nightcap on the Chicago-area track's first Thursday card of the meeting not only features a $44,138 carryover in the jackpot Super High 5 but also the return of the $1,500 added Let 8 Ride game available exclusively to TwinSpires.com players.

To get started, simply place an $8 win bet on your choice(s) to win race 8 on Thursday at Arlington Park. If one of your bets come in, then let it ride on a singular horse in race 8 on Friday. Survive the first two days, and that's when the added money starts pouring in: $500 on Saturday and $1,000 on Sunday. The former is split among those who bet and lose on Saturday while the latter is split among anyone who lets it ride on the fourth day.

But before you can get to any other day, you have to survive Thursday, which is the only day you can bet $8 to win on more than one horse, and that's certainly how we're going to play today's turf sprint for $40,000-$50,000 claimers (it's an optional claiming race for non winners of two races lifetime, but all nine entrants are in for the tag).

#3 Tam won an open maiden last out in his first career turf sprint, and while a lot of handicappers don't like betting recent maidens right back against winners, I don't mind it especially when said maiden sports the best last-out Brisnet.com Speed Rating.

#5 See Through is one of only two entrants who isn't an "E" or "E/P" type in the race, so an ideal trip is possible on the cutback and return to turf. Unfortunately, new trainer Paul McGee is 0-for-11 w/ new starters and 1-for-54 going turf to dirt, but the steady mid-upper-70 Speed Ratings do fit here.

#6 Kitty's Castle retains red hot E.T. Baird on the return to turf where he has previously routed. Trainer Michelle Boyce is 25% third off the layoff and 17% on turf. The dam hasn't thrown any turf winners, but there's enough breeding there to take a shot on the top Prime Power horse at 12-to-1 on the morning line.

#7 Bubuzela broke her maiden sprinting on yielding Arlington turf with Florent Geroux aboard, and that's the situation today. She has shown some versatility in her running style, and Geroux is a jockey I like to bet at Arlington, anyway, but I really like that he has this one's lone win.

#9 Puntsville is the second in here for Boyce with this one coming from the Janks barn after showing some two-year-old promise. She hasn't raced in nearly 10 months, and while she is fastest on paper, paper doesn't always translate off this kind of layoff or surface change.

If you got $40 to take a shot then these are the five I'd want to use, but if pressed for a top pick it's #3 Tam for me.