Friday’s Best Bets and Quick Picks: Tape to Tape can win the Sam’s Town

Handicapper J. Keeler Johnson shares best bets and quick picks for Friday, Jan. 3 at Turfway Park and Delta Downs, along with a horse to single in the $2,360 Pick 6 carryover at Fair Grounds.

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Today’s TwinSpires tournaments include:

• $160 Oaklawn Bonus Feeder Friday to 1/4 Smarty Jones KDBC Qualifier
• $160 Turfway Feeder to 1/4 Smarty Jones KDBC Qualifier

Best Bets and Quick Picks

Turfway Park: Race 5: Maiden Special Weight (1 1/4 miles on Tapeta, 7:55 p.m. ET)

#5 Lil’s Coffee (10-1) has recorded top-five finishes in a quartet of maiden special weights running long on dirt and turf at Horseshoe Indianapolis. Along the way, the daughter of Mastery has shown tactical speed.

There isn’t much pace in this 1 1/4-mile maiden special weight, so Lil’s Coffee is eligible to work out a favorable trip setting or tracking a modest tempo. If she handles the switch to Tapeta—and there’s a good chance she will—Lil’s Coffee can outrun her 10-1 morning-line odds and challenge for victory.

A win bet is the way we’ll play.

Selections

• #5 Lil’s Coffee (10-1)
• #3 Lorraine (7-2)
• #2 Ms Sedona (5-2)

Wagers

• $25 to win on #5 Lil’s Coffee

Delta Downs: Race 6: Sam’s Town S. (five furlongs on dirt, 8:10 p.m. ET)

#2 Tape to Tape (7-2) finished second by a half-length in this race last year, his lone defeat from three starts at Delta Downs. Last time out, he wired a five-furlong allowance over this bullring oval by 3 1/4 lengths, earning a sharp 92 Brisnet Speed rating.

Let’s count on Tape to Tape to spring a mild surprise over #3 General Shipman (9-5), who has yet to race at Delta Downs. We’ll bet Tape to Tape to win and single him to start a double wager.

Selections

• #2 Tape to Tape (7-2)
• #3 General Shipman (9-5)
• #5 Empire of Gold (12-1)

Wagers

• $15 to win on #2 Tape to Tape
• $20 Double: 2 with 1
  Total: $35

Delta Downs: Race 7: $15,000 Allowance Optional Claiming (five furlongs on dirt, 8:38 p.m. ET)

#1 Richies Princess (1-1) recently ended a long layoff with a gate-to-wire allowance victory sprinting six furlongs at Fair Grounds. She set a fast pace that day, but still held on to win by one length.

Cutting back to five furlongs for her second start back should make Richies Princess tough to beat for high-percentage trainer Larry Rivelli, who has gone 2-for-3 (67%) at Delta Downs this meet. Let’s single Richies Princess to conclude our double wager, then bet her over #7 Jilly’s West (6-1) in an exacta.

Selections

• #1 Richies Princess (1-1)
• #7 Jilly’s West (6-1)
• #4 Stacy’s Rare Find (6-1)

Wagers

• $10 Exacta: 1 with 7

Carryover Watch

Fair Grounds: Race 3: $2,360 Pick 6 carryover (2:45 p.m. ET)

Some days, bettors manage to solve the $1 Pick 6 at Fair Grounds. But a lot of days, they don’t. Thursday was a miss day; tickets with five out of six winners earned a $46.20 consolation payoff while the rest of the pool went to fuel a $2,360 carryover for Friday’s card.

Large fields abound in Friday’s Pick 6 sequence. The six races have drawn 54 horses (averaging nine per race) before scratches, and only one of those is an also-eligible entrant. It works out to 524,880 possible Pick 6 outcomes.

Are you looking for a single to build tickets around? Check out Race 3, the opening leg of the Pick 6. It’s a $10,000 starter optional claimer for older horses racing about 1 1/16 miles over the Fair Grounds turf course, and morning-line favorite #7 Temple (5-2) looms as a standout.

In his younger years, Temple was a stakes-caliber competitor. He won the Gio Ponti S. at age three, placed in the W. L. McKnight (G3) and Knickbocker (G3) at age five, and won the Mac Diarmida (G2) at age six. His six-year-old season also yielded top-three finishes in the United Nations (G1) and Sycamore (G3).

Now nine years old, Temple isn’t as fleet as he once was, but that doesn’t mean he can’t vie for victory in a $10,000 starter optional claimer. Two starts back, in his return from a nearly one-year layoff, Temple displayed strong finishing speed (running his final quarter-mile in about :23.07) to trounce a one-mile $20,000 starter optional claimer over the Belterra Park turf course by 4 1/4 lengths. And last time out, he rallied nicely to finish third by two lengths in a one-mile $15,000 claimer over the Fair Grounds lawn.

For his latest assignment, Temple is picking up jockey Jareth Loveberry, the second-leading rider by wins at the current Fair Grounds meet.

Some bettors may wish to add #1 Z Z’s Prince (3-1) to their tickets as backup, but although Z Z’s Prince’s best effort is good enough to factor here, he exits a fourth-place finish over Friday’s conditions and will need a rebound to beat Temple.

As a result, budget-conscious Pick 6 bettors can feel good about their chances singling Temple on the class drop. Good luck!