Turn $20 into a Big Score in Spiral

Solitary Ranger has experience over synthetic surfaces, including a win over this track earlier this year (Photo by John Engelhardt for Pat Lang Photography).
Despite a relatively low profile among Kentucky Derby preps, the $550,000 Spiral Stakes at Turfway Park has featured some very good runners in past years and a Derby winner as recently as 2011, Animal Kingdom.
This year’s field is again large and forces a horseplayer to make some judgment calls on how several runners will handle the synthetic track surface of Turfway for the first time. On the bright side, the uncertainty surrounding some of the runners could lend itself to some big payouts in the Spiral.
In all likelihood, #4 Tamarando will be sent off as the post-time favorite, and deservedly so. The Bertrando colt is trained by Hall of Famer Jerry Hollendorfer and will be ridden by another Hall of Famer in Russell Baze. This will be Tamarando’s first time racing outside of California but to his credit is a Grade 3 victory in his last race - the El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate Fields - on a synthetic surface. He has done very little wrong and was beaten only by legitimate Kentucky Derby hopefuls Shared Belief (now off the Derby trail) and Candy Boy in his sole loss in a two-turn race on a synthetic surface.
My only concern with Tamarando in the Spiral is that there won’t be much pace to run into late so the pacesetters might be too hard to catch after setting slow fractions early. I have that same concern with another one of the probable favorites in this race, #3 Poker Player. As a 2-year-old, he won the 2013 Bourbon Stakes at Keeneland Race Course from way off the pace and had excuses when finishing well beaten in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf. He’s a nice horse but he’ll probably be bet down, and it’s hard to imagine him making a big impact without the right pace setup.
TAMARANDO (outside) WON THE EL CAMINO REAL DERBY IN HIS LAST START

Photo by Vassar Photography
Poker Player goes out for powerhouse Midwest trainer Wayne Catalano. The trainer also enters another horse in the Spiral who we’re going to select as our top selection - #8 Solitary Ranger. If you watch enough of this game, you know that at almost every level of competition pace makes the race. I don’t think there’s any question that Solitary Ranger is the fastest horse from the starting gate in this field. In his last race, the $100,000 John Battaglia Memorial Stakes at Turfway Park, he was able to fend off four-horses who were trying to duel with him early, opened a huge lead and ended up finishing nearly 5 lengths ahead of his nearest competitor, Poker Player. With the possible exception of being pestered early by #9 Almost Famous, I think Solitary Ranger should be able to establish a comfortable enough lead to take them wire to wire again.
Selections: #8 Solitary Ranger, #4 Tamarando, #10 Harry’s Holiday, #2 Asserting Bear, #3 Poker Player. 
Here are a few ways to bet this race on a small budget (Note that last week’s plays all yielded a positive return on investment):
Strategy A:
$10 win-place on #8 Solitary Ranger (Despite his strong effort last out, he figures to be overlooked in the betting and the price on him should be right for a nice return).
Strategy B:
$4 Exacta Box 4,8 ($8)
$1 Exacta Box 2,4,8,10 ($12)
Strategy C:
$.50 Trifecta 4,8/4,8/All ($10)
$.50 Trifecta 4,8/All/4,8 ($10)
$550,000 Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati Racing Spiral Stakes
Saturday, Race 11, Turfway, 6:28 PM E.T.
One Mile and One Eighth, 3-year-olds

PP

Horse

Jockey

Trainer

Odds

1

Big Bazinga

Luis Contreras

Katerina Vassilieva

30-1

2

Asserting Bear

Joe Rocco Jr.

Reade Baker

12-1

3

Poker Player

Channing Hill

Wayne Catalano

5-1

4

Tamarando

Russell Baze

Jerry Hollendorfer

3-1

5

Coastline

Stewart Elliott

Mark Casse

8-1

6

Smart Cover

Corey Lanerie

Dale Romans

20-1

7

All Tied Up

Luis Saez

Todd Pletcher

12-1

8

Solitary Ranger

Florent Geroux

Wayne Catalano

6-1

9

Almost Famous

Calvin Borel

Pat Byrne

6-1

10

Harry's Holiday

Rosie Napravnik

Mike Maker

20-1

11

We Miss Artie

John Velazquez

Todd Pletcher

4-1

12

Arctic Slope

Albin Jimenez

Kenny McPeek

30-1

All assigned 123 pounds.