Title Ready the upset pick in Tinsel Stakes at Oaklawn Park

An excellent field of seven will travel nine panels on the Oaklawn Park dirt in Saturday’s feature, the $200,000 Tinsel S. The fascinating contest is a difficult one to decipher in my opinion, with many top contenders to make a case for and against. I will take a conservative approach and make a small value play in the contest.

Grade 2 winner #2 Lone Rock (8-5) is the top domestic stayer in training and will aim to cap a superb season on Saturday for trainer Robertino Diodoro. The gelded son of Majestic Warrior dons an 8-6-2-0 line in 2021, and he is also a two time winner at Oaklawn Park. But the six-year-old takes a considerable cutback in distance and might be vulnerable at 1 1/8 miles.

Millionaire #7 Warrior’s Charge (5-2) is clearly talented enough to win a race of this magnitude, but the Brad Cox pupil has not crossed the wire in first since early 2020, and the son of Munnings is hard to endorse because of that fact.

Diodoro’s #6 Thomas Shelby (8-1) owns big early foot and fine current form, but he is unproven at the stakes level, in addition to the fact that he figures to receive pressure throughout the race.

#5 Tenfold (6-1), also a millionaire, is just 4-for-28 lifetime and hasn’t come out on top dating back to 2019. #1 Huge Bigly (6-1) is a nice gelding with room for improvement, but he will need a career-best effort to be a major factor late in this spot.

Which leaves me with a pair of contenders that I had a hard time separating.

#3 Beau Luminarie (6-1) has been in the money in each of his 10 races this campaign for trainer Rodolphe Brissett. The dark bay son of I Want Revenge possesses a fine turn of foot and has shown up every time, on the dirt, turf and All-Weather alike. He looks to be just a notch below many of these from a class standpoint, however, and he might be best used in the exotics beneath Ricardo Santana.

Louisiana S. (G3) victor #4 Title Ready (9-2) has held up well when properly placed, and the six-year-old lands in a winnable spot for conditioner Dallas Stewart. The son of More Than Ready was a closing third in a deep allowance tilt at Churchill Downs off the long absence last time out, and his best performance will make him especially dangerous late under Brian Hernandez second off the bench. Title Ready fired a bullet five-eighths last week to signal his readiness for this endeavor.

Tinsel S. Wager

• $10 win/place/show #4 Title Ready ($30)