Glenners' Picks
05/20/00
by GLEN GALLIVAN05/20/00
Wire To Wire Racing Editor
Pimlico Picks
Race 1 — Palace Blues, Loverontherun and Finchs Mill
Race 2 — Fourth Quest, Pulverizingassault and Marg's Place
Race 3 — Brechin City, Battle On and Four Fifty Five
Race 4 — What You Say, Really Irish and Crystal's Time
Race 5 — Ecton Park, Get Away With It and The Groom Is Red
Race 6 — Sun Cat, True Confidence and Grundlefoot
Race 7 — Haami, Garbu and Quiet Resolve
Race 8 — Bella Chiarra, Roza Robata and On a Soapbox
Race 9 — Grand Hope, Say Florida Sandy and Crucible
Race 10 — High Yield, Fusaichi Pegasus and Red Bullet
Race 11 — Surf Guitar, He's My Buckaroo and Over to You
Race 12 — Incased In Gold, Ticket To Tokyo and Jan Luck
A closer look at race 10
High Yield exits a miserable performance in the Kentucky Derby, finishing a distant 15th. The Storm Cat colt also ran terrible in a 2-year-old stakes race under the twin spires last season, so it's probably safe to chalk up those poor showings to him having difficulty handling the tricky Churchill surface. Further proof of this, is that he's managed to hit the board in all 11 of his races outside of Louisville, and his record hasn't been fluffed up by facing cream puffs. The D. Wayne Lukas-trainee hasn't skipped many big races over the last two seasons — in his last 10 starts he's contested in eight grade one and two grade two affairs.
This year's Preakness has attracted a field of eight, which means there shouldn't be many traffic problems. High Yield has done his best running this season when on the early lead and Pimlico's tight turns usually favor runners near the front. However, Lukas made an interesting decision during the post position draw. The cagey trainer decided to select post position No. 5 even though spots closer to the rail were still available. This suggests that the Lukas has faith that jockey Pat Day will be able to get High Yield to relax behind the front-runners. That strategy would allow the colt to save energy, while keeping him in front of the favorite, Fusaichi Pegasus.
Remember that Lukas and Day know what it takes to get a young horse to rebound off of a disappointing Derby. Also, let's not forget two races back High Yield showed that he has the heart of a champion, as he gamely held off a hard-charging More Than Ready for the entire stretch run. Fusaichi Pegasus has yet to prove that he can pass a runner that's courageously digging in for the final yards.
At a morning line price of 10-1 on High Yield, it's worth rolling the dice and taking a chance with this proven winner, especially since I believe he's the only one in here that could clip the wings of the Pegasus. Let's play High Yield to win along with some exacta and trifecta tickets with Fusaichi Pegasus and Red Bullet.
SPOTLIGHT ON CHURCHILL DOWNS
Race 7 — Machamillion, On the Tee and Parade Leader
Race 8 — The Happy Hopper, Strawberry Way and Wind Tunnel
Race 9 — Histoire Sainte, Dominique's Joy and Pratella
Race 11 — Call It in the Air, Ida Hadit and Suggins
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