Preakness week: Playing the Pimlico Special double Oct. 2

Preakness (G1) week continues on Friday at Pimlico, with a 10-race card, highlighted by the $250,000 Pimlico Special (G3).

The Pimlico Special is the finale on a competitive afternoon, and it’s preceded by a surprisingly deep starter allowance that features 13 entries.

The card-closing double will be our main wager of the day, but we’ll throw in couple other spot plays for good measure.

Race 9: $25,000 starter allowance (5:51 p.m. ET)

We’ll kick off our double with a single.

Stakes winner and 2016 Preakness starter #7 Abiding Star (7-2) wired a $40,000 claiming race at Saratoga on Aug. 19, with a sharp 97 Brisnet Speed rating, and he proved the effort was no fluke when he returned to finish third in the Red Bank (G3) at Monmouth Park.

The latter effort was noteworthy, because Abiding Star squared off against some very talented rivals, including 2018 Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1) third-place finisher Analyze It, and led for most of the journey before he weakened in the final furlong.

Abiding Star will face easier company Friday and has a chance to shake loose on an easy lead, which stamps the 7-year-old veteran as a live contender at a fair price.

$15 to win on #7 Abiding Star
$15 double: 7 with 8
$10 double: 7 with 3

Race 10: Pimlico Special (G3, 6:23 p.m. ET)

Four-time graded stakes winner #8 Owendale (8-5) is the class of the Pimlico Special field.

The typically stretch-running son of Into Mischief enters off a runner-up effort in the Alysheba (G2) at Churchill Downs, where he showed a new dimension and stalked slow early fractions.

Owendale’s newfound versatility may come in handy for the Pimlico Special. The historic 1 3/16-mile race almost completely lacks speed, so the early tempo figures to be pedestrian.

This could lend a tactical advantage to #3 Plus Que Parfait (12-1), who handled 1 3/16 miles just fine when he upset the 2019 UAE Derby (G2) at Meydan in Dubai.

A versatile 4-year-old, Plus Que Parfait has shown flashes of tactical speed through his career, most notably when he employed pacesetting tactics to finish third in the 2019 West Virginia Derby (G3). After a slow start to his 2020 campaign, Plus Que Parfait has gradually rounded back into form, and he most recently rallied to finish second in the Charles Town Classic (G2).

At 12-1, I’m willing to bet Plus Que Parfait will parlay a forwardly placed trip into a strong finish in the Pimlico Special.

I’ll use him with Owendale to conclude our double, and I’ll also box him with the favorite in a small exacta.

$5 exacta box: 3,8 ($10)

Good luck!