Tuesday’s Best Bets and Quick Picks: Tampa’s $4,261 Super High 5 carryover

Handicapper J. Keeler Johnson shares best bets and quick picks for Tuesday, Dec. 24 at Tampa Bay Downs, including a ticket for the $4,261 Super High 5 carryover.

Today’s special offers from TwinSpires include:

• New Players $200 Sign-Up Bonus: Open your TwinSpires.com account using the offer code BET200 to start earning a $200 bonus.

Best Bets and Quick Picks

Tampa Bay Downs: Race 1: $25,000 Claiming (six furlongs on dirt, 12:10 p.m. ET)

#6 Heaven Rules (8-1) finished a distant fifth in her lone start on dirt. But that was a 5 1/2-furlong allowance over a sloppy track at Saratoga.

Heaven Rules figures to find the competition easier while dropping into a $25,000 claimer at Tampa Bay Downs. She’s been earning sharp Brisnet Speed ratings on turf and Tapeta in recent starts, so at 8-1, this four-year-old filly is worthy of a win bet.

Selections

• #6 Heaven Rules (8-1)
• #3 Brookmesa (5-2)
• #1 Just Mercy (5-1)

Wagers

• $25 to win on #6 Heaven Rules

Tampa Bay Downs: Race 2: $25,000 Maiden Claiming (5 1/2 furlongs on dirt, 12:40 p.m. ET)

Since 2021, trainer Gerald Bennett has gone 6-for-29 (21%) debuting horses on dirt at Tampa Bay Downs. This angle applies to #7 My Lucky Angel (2-1), who has put together a respectable work tab including half a mile from the Tampa Bay Downs starting gate in :49 2/5.

Under hot jockey Samuel Marin (a 23% winner at Tampa this meet), My Lucky Angel is worthy of a win bet. We’ll also single her to start a small double wager.

Selections

• #7 My Lucky Angel (2-1)
• #3 Raydar Control (3-1)
• #2 Pancho Slips Away (6-1)

Wagers

• $25 to win on #7 My Lucky Angel
• $5 Double: 7 with 4
  Total: $30

Tampa Bay Downs: Race 3: Maiden Special Weight (seven furlongs on dirt, 1:10 p.m. ET)

#4 Junta (6-1) is a first-time starter from the barn of Anthony Granitz, who has gone 2-for-5 (40%) debuting horses over the Tampa Bay Downs dirt since 2021. A daughter of Constitution (who sires 16% winners from first-time starters), Junta has shown speed in the mornings, most notably clocking a bullet half-mile in :47 1/5 at Horseshoe Indianapolis.

Junta’s 6-1 morning-line odds are enticing, so let’s bet her to win and single her to conclude our double wager.

Selections

• #4 Junta (6-1)
• #5 Tickin Time Blonde (2-1)
• #6 Madam Mitole (4-1)

Wagers

• $25 to win on #4 Junta

Carryover Watch

Tampa Bay Downs, Race 2: $4,261 Super High 5 carryover (12:40 p.m. ET)

Tampa Bay Downs is celebrating Christmas Eve with a $4,261 carryover in the $1 Super High 5.

The prize pool is up for grabs in Race 2, the above-mentioned $25,000 maiden claimer in which we rank first-time starter #7 My Lucky Angel (2-1) as the filly to beat. If you’re willing to key this promising Gerald Bennett trainee on top of your Super High 5 tickets, then there are only 840 combinations to consider for the remaining four slots.

Who should you use underneath? There are only seven other horses in the entries, and we suggest opposing #5 Ryan’s Shadow (15-1) and #6 Amaury M. V. P. (12-1), two first-time starters. That leaves five horses to fill four slots—we could box them all underneath My Lucky Angel for a cost of $120.

But we should be able to narrow down our tickets a bit more than that. We’ll lean on experienced runners like #1 Jazz N Blues (5-1), #2 Pancho Slips Away (6-1), #8 Hotline Blink (8-1).

Jazz N Blues exits a fourth-place finish in a 5 1/2-furlong $25,000 maiden claimer at Tampa Bay Downs, and she can crack the top five again while sticking to the same conditions.

Pancho Slips Away has set the pace in two starts against maiden special weight competition on Tapeta at Presque Isle Downs, finishing second and sixth. He looms as a danger on the front end while trying dirt.

Hotline Blink is dropping in class out of a five-furlong maiden special weight at Horseshoe Indianapolis. He should find the competition easier in a maiden claimer at Tampa.

Farther down our tickets, we’ll add first-time starter #3 Raydar Control (3-1) and Horseshoe Indianapolis shipper #4 Dancer’s Shadow (10-1).

Super High 5 Wager

• $1 Super High 5: 7 with 1,2,8 with 1,2,3,8 with 1,2,3,4,8 with 1,2,3,4,8 ($54)

Good luck!