Hollywood Park: Bettors chase pick six carryover of $105,000

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – The races that make up a lucrative pick six at Hollywood Park on Thursday cover nearly every category of racing – a maiden special weight, an allowance race with a stakes-quality field, two maiden claimers, and three races for claimers ranging in value from $10,000 to $25,000.

Finding the winners of those races will test the skills of handicappers focused on the pick six, which begins with a carryover of $105,448 from Sunday.

There are 51 horses, not including also-eligibles, entered to run in the pick six – races 3-8. Post time for race 3 is 1:30 p.m. Pacific.

There are several races in the sequence that will require multiple selections.

The third race is for $16,000 claimers at seven furlongs. In the field of nine, there is a mix of capable horses dropping in class following losses, such as Big Bad Brown, Half Dome Dude, Max Cooper and Streets of Heaven. They face runners such as Cayambe and Classy Lion, who ran well for a lower price in their last start.

Half Dome Dude, 12th in a $40,000 claimer on Sept. 30, is a danger at this lower price, racing from just off the pace.

The cheapest race in the sequence is the fourth, a $10,000 claimer over 1 1/16 miles. The speedy Katy’s Kitty, who drew the outside post, can win for the third time this year, but must hold off Vee, a 5-year-old mare who won over this course and distance on Nov. 8. Malusita, making her 45th start, will also be part of the pace, but has not won in more than 14 months.

The lone turf race is the fifth, a $25,000 claimer for nonwinners of two, to be run over a mile.

Toluca, third in a starter allowance at Santa Anita on Oct. 18 in her first race around two turns on turf, starts for trainer Jeff Mullins and jockey Tyler Baze. They have combined to win two stakes at this meeting.

English Rhythm, second in a race at this level on Sept. 28, and Miss Speed Dating, who has struggled at the gate, will be included on many tickets.

The sixth race is a maiden special weight over six furlongs. Typical of such races, trainer Bob Baffert has a strong hand with the first-time starter Indian Gods and The Brain, winless in three starts.

Rafael Bejarano, who has three strong mounts to end the program, rides Indian Gods, a $170,000 yearling purchase who drew the outside in a field of eight.

The seventh race is an allowance over 6 1/2 furlongs that drew a very strong field of six which includes the graded stakes winners Mamma Kimbo and Vision in Gold; the stakes winners Candy and Thunder, Candrea, and True Way of Grace; and the stakes-placed Sister Moon.

Mamma Kimbo, the winner of the Fantasy Stakes at Oaklawn Park last April, will be favored for Bejarano and Baffert.

The final race is a maiden claimer over six furlongs for 2-year-old fillies. The field of nine has five first-time starters, including the Mullins-trained Mom Nana Petrie, who has worked twice from the gate this month.

Bejarano rides Lady Katfish, who is winless in four starts against maiden special weight company and takes a notable drop in class.