Oaklawn Park Pick 3 for Friday

A total of 10 contests are on the slate for opening day at Oaklawn Park on Friday, led by the $150,000 Advent S. which is carded as Race 9.

Wager:

• $4 Pick 3: 3,7 with 2,4,5,6 with 11 ($32)

Race 8 – Maiden Special Weight

The opening leg of the sequence attracted an overflow field of 13 juvenile fillies who will travel one mile. Kenny McPeek’s #3 Enticing Beauty (7-2) is the top pick. The $100,000 Violence two-year-old showed good late life in a six-furlong dash at Churchill Downs on debut when third, and she seems poised to thrive with the added ground in the affair. Fernando Jara will pilot the Kentucky-bred. 

Brad Cox’s first-time starter #7 Zaghruta (2-1) is training well and could be any kind for a conditioner who has unveiled numerous ultra-impressive juveniles this season. The daughter of the fantastic Gun Runner runs for a trainer who is also excellent with horses going long at first asking, and she wouldn’t be a surprise beneath Ramon Vazquez. 

Race 9 – Advent S. 

The 5 1/2-furlong feature attracted six juveniles with the D. Wayne Lukas-trained #5 Innovator (1-1) the obvious one to beat. By Authentic, the colt fell a head short off the bench beneath the Twin Spires in his latest heat and could surely break his maiden in the stakes ranks under Christian Torres. 

With that said, I feel that going four deep will ensure me of advancing to the last leg, so I will also toss in California invader #6 Kale’s Angel (5-2), as well as the Steve Asmussen duo of the four-time stakes placed #2 Three Echoes (4-1) and recent maiden victor #4 Perfect Magic (5-1). 

Race 10 – Starter Allowance

The closing leg of the play will be run at 1 3/16 miles, and this is the spot where I will take my stand. #11 Bright Spark (3-1) finished a close second to Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) winner Highland Falls at Fair Grounds in January and followed that up with a third-place result behind Grade 3 victor Pyrenees, who finished second in the Stephen Foster (G1) and Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) this season, in a similar type of allowance heat in New Orleans. 

The five-year-old son of Arrogate is a slight concern with just three wins from 24 career tallies, but anything resembling his pair of excellent efforts in the winter will be enough to handle this cast. I’m confident that Martin Chuan will navigate a sensible voyage from a wide post atop the gelding with a long run going into the first turn.