Racing At Santa Anita With Marc Doche: Happy New Year's Eve!

The final day of the year offers up a solid nine-race card at The Great Race Place including a pair of $75,000 stakes going one mile on the turf course for two-year-olds.

A field of eight colts go in the Eddie Logan and the Diamond A Racing Corp entry of Robie the Cat and Ten Devils is listed as the morning line favorite at 8-to-5. Both are coming off impressive victories sprinting over the turf course at Hollywood Park.

The fillies run in the Blue Norther and Tales in Excess is the 8-to-5 morning line favorite with leading rider Joel Rosario riding for Jerry Hollendorfer.

European-based rider Robert Winston is in town to ride in both stakes races today for trainer Doug O’Neill. After serving a one-year suspension for race corruption in 2007, Winston resumed riding in 2008 and again became one of Europe’s top jocks. He’ll be on a flight back home after today and is scheduled to ride in France on Monday.

With the late Pick 4 sequence difficult to narrow down, we take a crack at the early part of the card for the first time today.

We’re off to the races!

Best Bet of the Day (ROI based off $2 WPS bet)

Race 9 - No. 9 Suwaalif (10/1 ML) – This is a dismal field of two-year-old filly claimers and this daughter of Cee’s Tizzy is dropping from an allowance race where she lost all chance at the start. She has trained forwardly since and Jaime Lloyd gets his main jock Corey Nakatani to ride today.

Yesterday’s Result – Off the board with Kris Silver (-$6.00)

Total for 2010-11 Santa Anita meet – (-$3.40)

Early Pick 4

Leg 1 – Race 1 (2,3,4,6) – Maiden claiming fillies go a mile an a sixteenth on the main track and we’ll go four deep.

No. 2 Long Legged Lovely has finished second in both her routes and draws better today than she did last time.

No. 3 Ancient Holiday returns off a long layoff for Myung Kwon Cho after breaking from the rail in both of her starts in allowance company last year. Her work tab is steady, yet not flashy, and she adds blinkers against a weak bunch.

No. 4 Good Friday Gal takes off the blinkers and should get a clear lead again early. One of my favorite angles.

No. 6 Southern Strike drops from special weight company for trainer Eric Guillot and has shown a touch of her class in recent a.m. spins over this track.

Leg 2 – Race 2 (3,7,9) – The hillside turf course makes its debut for the meet with this solid bunch of $40,000 claimers sprinting the six and a half furlongs.

No. 3 Brenthurst is consistent and usually around the wire. He can fire fresh.

No. 7 Dapper Gene is looking for his third straight win and there is early speed signed on to set up his closing kick. He does have a win over this unique layout.

No. 9 Stoneside hasn’t won in a long time, but faces weaker here than he’s seen in quite a while. His pair of races on this course earlier in the year would crush these.

Leg 3 - Race 3 (4) – Non-winners of two lifetime route a mile and an eighth on the main track and No. 4 Dontmesroundwitjim appears to hold all the cards to win in wire to wire fashion. He’s been facing better and now gets a major barn upgrade to Mike Mitchell, who has put three works into him. Any other potential early speed scratched out of the race making him look like a short-priced winner.

Leg 4 – Race 4 (2,3,4) – In the aforementioned Blue Norther we’ll use half of the short field of six.

No. 2 Tales in Excess stretches out off four works and has faces some nice fillies while running in the money in all four career starts. With In Excess on the bottom side, she should take to the lawn.

No. 3 True Way of Grace will get early speed to run at and move from Paul Atkinson to Garret Gomez. She’s also faced some nice fillies and her only win came in the Barrett’s Debutante.

No. 4 Wave of Applause broke slowly in her U.S. debut in the Grade 3 Miesque, but tried hard to the wire and can improve here.

Recap – (2,3,4,6) w (3,7,9) w (4) w (2,3,4) – Total cost of ticket = $36

Make sure to follow me on Twitter @mdoche for last minute changes caused by scratches and much more.

Good luck!

Yesterday’s Result – (-$72)

Total for 2010-11 Santa Anita meet – (-$334)

Total for 2010 Del Mar meet – (-$554.55)