All 11 of Saturday's graded stakes, including four Triple Crown preps, are part of pick-4's being offered by their five host tracks, including two overlapping pick-4's at Fair Grounds that pivot on the Risen Star:
The first Fair Grounds pick-4 and the Gulfstream sequence are all-stakes affairs, while others such as Golden Gate and the final Fair Grounds pick-4 also encompass statebred and maiden races.
Aqueduct is running its usual $250,000 guranteed late pick-4, starting with the 7th race at 3:27 p.m. ET. The sequence includes three statebred races, two of them maiden-claimers.
There's also the second Magna 5 of the year, starting with the 10th at Laurel (an allowance/optional claimer), carded for 4:53 pm ET, and continuing through the 9th at Gulfstream (Canadian Turf), 4th at Santa Anita (starter allowance), 10th at Gulfstream (Fountain of Youth) and 5th at Santa Anita (maidens.)
The most accomplished horse racing anywhere tomorrow is in an ungraded stakes that is not part of a pick-4: Gio Ponti, the champion turf horse and older male of 2009, who is prepping for the March 27 Dubai World Cup in the $150,000 Tampa Bay Breeders' Cup Stakes. Under the conditions of the race, the four-time Grade 1 winner and BC Classic runner-up carries just 116 pounds, six fewer than G3 winner Rahystrada, two fewer than Public Speaker and equal with the rest of the field.
