How To Bet the Jeff Ruby Steaks Week Kickoff Pick 5 With Carryover

Like March, Jeff Ruby Steaks week comes in like a lion with a $5,082 Pick 5 carryover that begins with race 1 Thursday, and I'm hoping it goes out with a perfectly grilled lamb chop as my reward for hitting the challenging sequence.

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The most important race--to me--from a decision-making standpoint is race 3, a maiden special weight for three-year-olds and up going 6 furlongs. 5 of the 9 entrants are first-time starters, which certainly adds a wildcard factor, but I'm going to trust my handicapping that the three older fillies who have started--#6 A Change of Heart, #8 A Little Havana, & #9 Go Stellaire--are the best of this bunch. The only other entrant who's started--#3 Trilby--has one too too man, she's too slow and too young!

Of the firsters, #4 Prayerforpenitence intrigues being by sharp debut sire Street Boss, but she's not even three calendar years old being a June 2015 foal and is only getting 5 pounds from her elders. #s 1, 2, & 7 are the other four-year-old debut types, and it's usually a bad sign when horses don't debut at four. The connections don't seem particularly cagey either.

Other intriguing horses in the sequence include #9 Muntij in race 2. Sporting a 30-to-1 morning line, it will be interesting to see what price we actually get, because it won't be 30-to-1 on this one coming off a decent run where he bobbled at start and still was an early pace presence before fading. Jockey Malcolm Franklin stays aboard.