Courtesy of Mike Dempsey

Here is today's opening race from Aqueduct to get our day off to a good start:

AQU Race 1 Clm $25,000B (12:30 ET)
#1 Tar Beach 2/1
#4 Clear Faith 15/1
#5 Awesome Charlie 6/1
#2 Frazil 9/2

Analysis: #1 Tar Beach rallied to finish in the runner up spot last out while drifting out in the stretch in a decent effort. The third place finisher in the race was Awesome Mich, who came back to beat $10K non-winners of three in his next start on Feb. 14. The colt owns a solid pace profile throughout and is in good hands with the Brown barn. Should get a good tracking trip breaking from the inside with Rosie aboard.

#4 Clear Faith stalked the early pace and faded to finish seventh last out at this level and was claimed out of the race by the D'Alessandro barn that is showing a 0 for 15 mark first off the claim. The barn is showing a 0 for 30 mark in the PP's for the meeting, but did pick up a win here on Friday. Blinkers go on and this guy earned four straight figs facing NJ breds last fall that would put him in the mix here. The gelding may bounce back here with a better effort and should be a decent price.

Wagering
WIN: #1 to win at 2/1 or better.
EX: 1,4 / 1,2,4,5
TRI: 1,4 / 1,2,4,5 / 1,2,3,4,5

Today's Featured Race of the Day from Aqueduct:

AQU Race 8 Alw $42,000N1X (3:49 ET)
#3 Regal Prince 8/1
#2 Ricoriatoa 2/1
#5 Charlott Humor 5/2
#6 Valid Sum 7/2

Analysis: #3 Regal Prince stalked the early pace and could not make up any ground on the top pair in the stretch last out in a third place finish. The winner of the race was Rereadthefootnotes, who came back to win the state bred Hollie Hughes in his next outing on Feb. 15. The gelding is making his third start off the bench and his 8/1 ML looks generous.

#2 Ricoriatoa set the early fractions and could not hold off the winner, settling for the runner up spot, holding off #5 Charlott Humor in a photo. The gelding owns solid early and mid pace numbers and would be a danger here if he shakes loose. #7 Poppa's Pick may prevent that from happening.

Wagering
WIN: #3 to win at 7/2 or better.
EX: 2,3 / 2,3,5,6
TRI: 2,3 / 2,3,5,6 / 2,3,5,6,7

Live Longshots:
These are price plays for exotic players looking to find a couple of extra contenders to use in their trifecta and superfecta wagers. Or for those with smaller bankrolls, you might want to get in a small win-place wager.

Aqueduct
R1: #4 Clear Path 15/1
R2: #6 Caftan 8/1
R4: #3 Smokin Conrad 12/1
R5: #1 Volos / #1a Mitchell Park 8/1
R5: #3 Geno Green 10/1
R6: #1 West End 12/1
R7: #10 Apple 10/1
R8: #3 Regal Prince 8/1
R9: #7 Sweet a Way 20/1

Good luck today!

AQU 2nd (12:58)

1 Mile | Fillies | 3 Year Olds Maiden Special Weight | Purse: $41,000

Prg. # PP Horse Jockey Trainer Wt. Claim $ Equip. Med. ML
1 1 Red Barchetta Lopez C C Barbara Robert 120 L 9-5
1A 4 Lucida Musarro J Barbara Robert 113 7 L 9-5
2 2 Bible Belt Luzzi M J Benzel Seth 120 L 5-1
3 3 Divine Indy Migliore R Ferraro Michael S 120 Blk-On 8-1
4 5 Arctic Queen Dominguez R A Hills Timothy A 120 Blk-On L 4-1
5 6 Princess Sucree Serpa A Hennig Mark 115 5 L 5-2
6 7 Caftan Fragoso P McLaughlin Kiaran P 120 L 8-1

A-Coupled: Red Barchetta and Lucida

Exacta, Quinella, Trifecta, Pick 3 Races (2-4), Pick 4 Races (2-5) Daily Double Wagers

Brian Blessing's Pick's 5-1-2

Princess Sucree could be sitting on a winning effort today in the third race in her current form cycle. She improved last race and with further progression today she is a win candidate.

Gulfstream Park Sunday

6th (3:42)
1 Mile | Open | 4 Year Olds And Up Allowance Optional Claiming ($100,000) | Purse: $56,000

Prg. # PP Horse Jockey Trainer Wt. Claim $ Equip. Med. ML
1 1 Grand Cash Sanchez J Vivian David A 120 L 10-1
2 2 Famous Patriot Castellano J J Hills Timothy A 120 L 8-1
3 3 Bold Start Leparoux J R McPeek Kenneth G 120 $100,000 L 5-2
4 4 Colonial Causeway Nunez E O Azpurua Manuel J 120 $100,000 L 20-1
5 5 Hey Byrn Prado E S Plesa Edward Jr 120 L 3-1
6 6 Dream Maestro Cruz M R Kaplan William A 120 L 6-1
7 7 Pechito (ARG) Castro E Wolfson Martin D 120 L 6-1
8 8 Gentleman James Trujillo E Wolfson Martin D 120 L 4-1

Exacta / Trifecta / Superfecta / 10 Cent Superfecta / Daily Double (Races 6&7) Bet 3 (Races 6-7-8)

Battagliaspicks 5-8-3

#5 Hey Byrn- loves this track winning 4 of his 5 career starts here. He is 2 for 2 at this distance and is coming off a strong second after he could not catch the odds on Favorite. That was his first start since OCT and will be fit and ready today.

Santa Anita

5th (2:34)
1 Mile (Turf) | Open | 4 Year Olds And Up Allowance Optional Claiming ($62,500) | Purse: $52,000

Prg. # PP Horse Jockey Trainer Wt. Claim $ Equip. Med. ML
1 1 Katie's Dan (NZ) Baze M C Velasquez Danny 119 L 12-1
2 2 Times Gone By Espinoza V Mandella Richard 119 L 5-2
3 3 I'll Show Them Talamo J Yakteen Tim 119 L 10-1
4 4 Lease of Life Rosario J Mitchell Mike 119 L 7-2
5 5 Knockout Artist Flores D R Sherman Art 119 $62,500 L 6-1
6 6 Glowing Praise (GB) Bejarano R Harty Eoin 119 FTL 6-1
7 7 Polonius Pedroza M A Pender Michael 119 $62,500 L 9-2
8 8 Unusual Smoke Garcia M Avila A C 119 L 6-1

$1 Exacta / $1 Trifecta $2 Rolling Double / $1 Pick Three (Races 5-6-7) $1 Superfecta (.10 Min.)

Battagliaspicks 8-4-2

#8 Unusual Smoke- was claimed for 12.5k early in the year last year and has made his very sharp outfit 200k since. He just ran a huge 3rd in the Sunshine 500k Classic getting beat a length at 50-1. Garcia rides him back and he has 3 wins and 3 second and the third in the Classic on him. This is a much easier spot today and anything close to his last several races will be enough to blow this field away.

Santa Anita Race #8
(courtesy of Ellis Starr)

#8 Sudden War - Fair odds 5/2
#5 Unusual Suspect - Fair odds 5/2
#1 Dynamic Range - Fair odds 5/2

Exacta: Box 1,5,8

Sudden War comes out of a productive race on 12/31 on this course after 8 months off in which he was beaten a nose for 2nd and another head for the win, a race from which the runner-up already came out of to win, and so this gelding should do the same moving back to the 12 furlong marathon trip he’s 2 for 3 at in his career. Unusual Suspect won at 12 furlong stakes race on the main track last summer, Quinonez up then as now, the gelding stretching back out to that marathon trip after a poor effort at the much shorter 9 furlong trip and on the main track last out in the Sunshine Millions Classic. Having beaten stars Richard’s Kid and Church Service in that 12 furlong race previously he fits on all levels here and having earned over a half million in his career on the turf to date figures for a big piece at the least. Dynamic Range was beaten just under 3 lengths in the 10 furlong G2 San Marcos Stakes over the course on 1/24 by the rising start Loup Breton, before that winning two in a row including one at this 12 furlong trip on this course. With the ground saving rail he could have a big say in the outcome in this situation.

If you really want to get into Santa Anita racing I'll see you at 3pm et http://www.xpressbet.com/xbchat.aspx

There's some serious winning going on here!