Horse Racing: Today at Santa Anita, Sept. 27

Race 1 – 6 ½ furlongs, Purse $52,000, Maiden special weights, Cal-breds, Fillies, 2-year-olds
3 Hurricaine Callie – Did everything but win last time in a game effort; first start in new barn of Peter Miller, expect even more improvement this afternoon.
6 Reckless Charm – Was in a big hurry last time and dueled herself into submission; her race three back where she sat a perfect trip is the blueprint to victory tonight.
Long Shot – 1 Roo’s Valentine
Race 2 – 6 ½ furlongs, Purse $15,000, Claiming $12,500, 3-year-olds and up
5 Top Drawer – Ran a much improved race off the claim by Hector Palma; slides way down in class in search of victory, key vote comes from Rafael Bejarano up.
6 Formally Wild – Did everything but win last time in his main track debut; the key had to be the desperate drop in class and now he drops down another rung.
Long Shot – 7 Cougar Country
Race 3 – 6 furlongs, Purse $24,000, Claiming $20,000, 3-year-olds
3 Pat the Bear – Claimed by Gary Sherluck and dropped in class to win; has a lot of back class where he has run many races before fast enough to defeat these.
5 A Colt Following – Draw a line thru at disappointing turf debut in last and his resume looks a little better; key will be the big class drop from $40K to $20K.
Long Shot – 7 Justonemorething
Race 4 – 6 ½ furlongs, Purse $52,000, Maiden special weights, 2-year-olds
3 Mor Spirit – HOF trainer Bob Baffert has a 3-horse uncoupled entry, so caveat emptor; the others horses include Speed Chick and Student Body Left.
5 Urlacher – Solid debut where he ran slowly early but was passing tired horses late; would expect an Eoin Harty baby to improve with racing so that makes him very live.
Long Shot – 4 Beaumarchais
Race 5 – 1 mile (turf), Purse $36,000, Claiming $40,000, 3-year-olds and up
5 Husband’s Folly – With Flavien Prat out a minimum of 3-months, Rafael Bejarano takes over here; young Prat was maybe the most improved riders of this year.
9 Horizontalyspeakin – The class drop down to a $40K price tag woke this one up last time; the key will be now if he can repeat this race this afternoon.
Long Shot – 1 Buymeabond
Race 6 – 1 ¼ miles (turf), $75,000 King Pellinore, 3-year-olds and up
1 Ashleyluvssugar – Gets big time class relief from four graded stakes races for this restricted stakes; Gary Stevens can save all the ground and angle out late.
9 Kulik Lodge – Has won 3-of-5 grass starts and shown improvement throughout; did not have the cleanest of trips in the Del Mar Mile and trips are everything in turf routes.
Long Shot – 2 Danas Best
Race 7 – 6 ½ furlongs, Purse $53,000, Optional claiming $40,000, 3-year-olds and up
4 Skelton Pass – His MSW win last time was fast enough to win some stakes sprint races; facing winners for the first time, but this John Sadler claim is plenty fast.
3 Sir Samson – Been away a while since being overmatched in the San Felipe; trainer Brian Koriner regrouped and brings this colt back in a winnable spot.
Long Shot – 2 Distinctive B
Race 8 – 1 mile (turf), $200,000 The City of Hope Mile, 3-year-olds and up
7 Avanzare – Has really come to hand under the guidance of HOF jockey Gary Stevens; ran in tandem with Talco in the Del Mar Mile and just outfinished the favorite.
6 Talco – Has had a brilliant season with three seconds and thirds in six grass routes this season; in turf routes, usually the trip helps determine the outcome.
Long Shot – 9 Alert Bay
Race 9 – 1 mile, Purse $21,000, Maiden claiming $21,000, 2-year-olds
6 Afleet Domination – Taking the biggest class drop in racing from MSW to maiden claiming; if he improves even one step, he will demolish these like Utah over Oregon.
4 Sugar Buzz – I always find it interesting when a top jockey like Rafael Bejarano sticks around to ride a bottom level race like this; Doug O’Neill is the trainer.
Long Shot – 8 Nusret
Best Bet - 6 Afleet Domination (race 9)
Santa Anita Saturday - Picks/Winners/Mutuels, 21/3/$7.60; Long Shots, 11/3/$63.00; Best Bet, 1/1/$2.20
Los Alamitos Final Totals - 162/43/$286.40; Long Shots, 80/16/$182.60; Best Bets, 10/5/$20.60
SIMULCAST PLAY OF THE DAY - #2 Blue Pigeon (5/1) in race 6 at Belmont Park. For scoring purposes, we'll make a hypothetical $2 win, place and show bet, $6 total. On Saturday, Mylute was scratched at Churchill Downs. Stats - 144/95/$714.90; Follow him on Twitter: @richeng4propick