Stakes spot plays for Woodbine Mile day

Looking forward to Woodbine Mile Day? Check out our spot plays for the supporting stakes races on this exciting afternoon at Woodbine.

Race 3: Ontario Racing S. (2:16 p.m. ET)

Eight juveniles will vie for victory in this 5-furlong turf dash. #4 Amsden (8-5), a son of Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, is an obvious contender, after he crushed a couple next-out winners in his debut over this distance at Colonial Downs.

The stakes-placed #5 Ready to Repeat (9-5) is another logical choice, considering he owns the three highest Brisnet Speed ratings in the field.

But don’t overlook #3 Sky’s Not Falling (5-1), who enters off a third-place finish in the 5 1/2-furlong Skidmore S. at Saratoga. The Skidmore winner, Golden Pal, had previously finished second in the Norfolk (G2) at Royal Ascot, while runner-up Fauci came back to finish second in the Kentucky Downs Juvenile S.

Let’s play Amsden and Sky’s Not Falling on top of exacta and trifecta tickets.

$4 exacta: 3,4 with 3,4,5 ($16)
$1 exacta: 4 with 3,5 ($2)
$3 trifecta: 3,4 with 3,4,5 with 3,4,5 ($12)
Total: $30

Race 7: Singspiel (G3, 4:27 p.m. ET)

Assuming #3 Admiralty Pier (4-1) scratches in favor of the Woodbine Mile (G1), this 1 1/4-mile race will be left without much speed on paper. Could #7 Tiz a Slam (6-1) capitalize with an uncontested, frontrunning trip?

The son of Tiznow won the 2019 Singspiel in gate-to-wire fashion, which was the second of three straight graded stakes victories he posted last season. Tiz a Slam is 0-for-2 in 2020, with sixth-place finishes in both the Louisville (G3) and the Seagram Cup (G3), but the former race was his first start off an extended layoff, and the latter was contested over the Woodbine Tapeta track.

A return to turf should help reawaken Tiz a Slam, and sharp recent workouts suggest he’ll return to frontrunning tactics.

Let’s take a shot and bet Tiz a Slam to win and key him in the exacta, with logical late runners #4 Standard Deviation (8-1) and #9 Nakamura (5-2).

$12 to win on #7 Tiz a Slam
$3 exacta: 7 with 4,9 ($6)
$6 exacta: 4,9 with 7 ($12)
Total: $30

Race 10: Woodbine Cares S. (6:14 p.m. ET)

#7 Illegal Smile (8-5) might be an 0-for-3 maiden, but the Irish-bred filly has already run well against stakes company. She carced out fast fractions of :22.20, :44.74, and 1:07.96 in Woodbine’s 6 1/2-furlong Catch a Glimpse S. but faltered late to finish third.

Trained by Wesley Ward, a master at conditioning juvenile sprinters, Illegal Smile looms as the “speed of the speed” in this 5-furlong dash for 2-year-old fillies.

We’ll bet her heavily to win and call it a day.

$40 to win on #7 Illegal Smile

Good luck!