Silver Slugger Leads Tampa Bay Downs Pelican Race this Weekend

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00:00So we're talking saturday, we're talking february the 8th, we're talking race 5 over at Tampa Bay

00:05Downs. This one is the Pelican. It's a sprint race for four-year-olds and up, Alexa, but there's like

00:11no early speed in this race at all. You can see the designation on the Timeform US pace projector.

00:19There's icicles because it favors front runners. It's like that or there's no speed. I mean who do

00:24you even think can get towards the lead in here and who are some of the horses that are on your

00:28radar in this race? Well one I really like is the three silver slugger and you can see that's the

00:34horse who should be on the lead and I think you just have to like it. I mean he's been going at

00:38lower levels but undefeated at Tampa Bay with three straight wins at the track including a win

00:44last month after a 10-month break. So that was kind of a refresher and now I think he can improve

00:51second off of that break and his trainer, okay you have to take this stat with a grain of salt

00:56because this is a sample size of four horses but he's won three of the four off of those long

01:02breaks so that's 75 percent and I just think being an early leader in this race is going to be worth

01:09a lot and at 15 to 1 definitely want to include. Think about in any sport. We have the Super Bowl

01:14coming up this weekend. The best team, the best player, the best horse doesn't always win and it's

01:20because of matchups. It's because of styles. It's because of how different matchups can create

01:25different things. Sometimes you'll have speed versus size in this particular situation. Pace,

01:31the pace of the race, the speed of the race, how it sets up. That can be the equalizer. Sometimes

01:37horses that aren't as good but they have a little bit more early speed and they catch the right

01:41field at the right time. They can take advantage by just using their tactics, by using what they

01:48have successful. That's early speed. Silver Slugger as at least one that you want to use in some of the

01:53under exotics. Let's get to selections for the Pelican here. I put the six on top Alexa. I know

01:59you have in the fourth spot. I think he can sit close in a race where there's just not that much

02:03early speed and I like some of the races he exits. I have the three in the back end as well so I put

02:09the six on top. Dreaming of Kona. Alexa with the three. Silver Slugger. Let's flip to the next race

02:15at Tampa Bay Downs on Saturday. Race number six is another stakes race. This one's a fun race Alexa.

02:21It's called the Minaret. There's actually a couple uh horses in here that you and I talked about

02:27a few weeks ago when we previewed the inside information at Gulfstream Park on Pegasus World

02:31Cup Day. We have the number four, Nick Style, who was entered in that race but she actually scratched.

02:37She didn't run and then we have to the outside, Muchia, who was also I think going to run in that

02:42race but neither one of them did. They've been rerouted here. It's probably a better spot for

02:46both of them. They're like in against softer company. Do you think they're some of the top

02:51contenders and who do you like in here? I do. I was trying to beat Nick Style and I just couldn't.

02:58I actually would be pretty comfortable singling this horse in pick tickets. You know she's the

03:04stakes winner who ran her worst speed figure ever last race but still won the race and that

03:09worst ever was better than most of what our opponents do in here on the regular. You know

03:14she's five for six with one second tactical speed. She's one of the lead. She's one for coming

03:19off the pace. So I think she's definitely the one to beat. Not going to get great odds on her but

03:27another one if you want to throw in a price is the number one, Opus 42 at 12 to 1 morning line odds

03:32and who's the stakes winner here at Tampa last year has been off for almost a year

03:37and her trainer Arnaud Delacour is really good at bringing his horses back

03:44after those long layoffs wins 29% of the time. So you know I've been working out really well

03:50and it's used to running like a lot longer distance races so I think should be a pretty

03:55comfortable spot for her to return to. So that's kind of my single and a price horse underneath.

04:01Well let's move to selections here. What I'm going to do Alexa, I'm going to use the eight

04:05Muccia on top. To me she's the only horse that has a couple races in here that are close to what

04:10Nick Style has. So I think with a really good effort on her A game she can kind of sit close

04:15from the outside. She's proven at Tampa. I'll give Muccia a little bit of a shot on top of Nick Style

04:21eight four five six for me. You can see Alexa's selections four one and then she'll put the six

04:26and the five there in the third and the fourth spots. Let's move to the third race that we're

04:31going to talk about in this segment. It's going to be race number nine on Saturday at Tampa Bay

04:36Downs. This one is the Suncoast. Kentucky Oaks points are on the line. They'll be traveling a

04:41mile and 40 yards in here Alexa. Some of the major players in this one uh the number four her laugh

04:47she's two for two. She just won the untappable last time out. She's a major player and then you

04:52have Lakara who won the grade three Pocahontas. I think she was my Breeders' Cup pick in the

04:57Breeders' Cup juvenile fillies. She didn't really fire that day but her resume before that is really

05:03good and this is like a nice starting point for her to get her first race of 2025 off the bench.

05:09Yeah I really like Lakara. She's actually sitting in 12th place on the Oaks leaderboard right now.

05:14That Pocahontas win was the first Oaks earning potential of the season so she was the first

05:21horse to um you know be at the top of the leaderboard and she's training really well.

05:26She's so consistent has really good workouts. It looks like her trainer Mark Cassie has her

05:30tuned up and ready for this Oaks trail campaign so I think she looks really really good. Another

05:37interesting one's the five that 12th to one um new on the scene only one start in December at Tampa

05:44but she won with ease and posted a really nice speed figure for that first time out. So this is

05:49the first time against Stakes Company which is always you know a litmus test for horses um but

05:54again been training really well and is by Constitution who's a sire whose horses perform

06:00really well on dirt. So I mean my name is Gino Nicola Bacola. I'm Italian right so I mean if you

06:07didn't know that now you do. I gotta go to Italian soiree in here the number three. Is your middle

06:12name Nicola? Gino Nicola Bacola. My middle name's Nicole. Look at that. How about that? I used to say it's not a name

06:18it's an attitude. Gino Nicola Bacola Junior. The three Italian soiree in here is the pick for me.

06:25The blinkers come on. When you look at the horses that have defeated her they're just a little bit

06:31better than her. Like she hasn't run bad races. She's been fifth and fourth and just go through

06:35each of the horses in front of her. We're talking about Mayday Ready who ran in the Breeders Cup

06:39totally justified. Uh we're talking about Vixen who just came back and won a stakes at Gulfstream.

06:44Nitrogen who just came back and won a stakes at Gulfstream. She just lost to some nice horses.

06:49This is a good starting point for her. Flavian Pratt jumps aboard. Italian soiree. 3-6-8-4 for me.

06:576-5-4-2 for Alexa.

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