Top pick: #12 (RED DWARF) - Has the best races of those who have started and he also has the most early speed. He was sent hard last out from an inside post in a large field and weakened in the last 1/16th to finish third. Runs third back off a 70 day layoff and last Feb. he showed some speed facing special weights when he debuted on this surface. Four-year-old moves out in the gate for this and it's a nice slot at this 6.5 furlong trip. The horse to beat.
2nd pick: #13 (Bryan Daniel) - His record on real dirt is (5-0-3-2) and it's clearly a surfcae he prefers. Grey son of "Holy Bull" is (3-0-2-1) locally and all three of those starts came against much tougher. Three-year-old has a big work here five days ago and is a win candidate.
3rd pick: #7 (Wanted Poster) - On the sidelines since spring, gelding raced evenly facing better in his first two start at that time. Working fine for his return, he'll run today with blinkers added by trainer R.B. Hess Jr. Stretch threat.
4th pick: #11 (Trando's Tremor) - He rallied to finish sixth of 12 beaten 3 1/2 lengths when debuting at Del Mar and he had a "ton of trouble" at the start. Working very fast on this surface for his second public appearance and I'm looking for major improvement from him in this afternoon's finale.