PICKS: Dave Makes His Selections for May 2 at Churchill

The Pressbox Staff |
Churchill Downs
Churchill Downs. Photo Credit: Erin Pettigrew

The Kentucky Oaks and the Kentucky Derby don’t go off until Friday and Saturday respectively, but that doesn’t mean racing isn’t going on at Churchill Downs this week. Here are my picks for enticing races at Churchill today.

 

Race 3

The 4 is the short-priced favorite here, but he looks like the one. Don’t overthink it.

Race 7

9 looks good here. Julien Leparoux gives Gabriel Saez a riding lesson. If you’re looking for an exacta, give the 7 a look. That one could pay out a lot.

Race 8

I like the 2 in Race 8. He’s coming back quick for trainer Bill Mott and didn’t get to run last time out.

Race 9

The 2 is definitely worth a shot at 10-1 here. Go big or go home.
Good luck, racing fans. Go win some money.

That’s very, very special to do it at Tampa Bay,” an emotional O’Connell said after Well Defined’s two-and-three-quarter length victory from a charging Kentucky Wildcat in 1:42.70 for the mile-and-a-sixteenth, .26 seconds off 2018 winner Flameaway’s stakes record. So Alive finished a distant third, with the 19-10 favorite, Knicks Go, getting nipped for fourth at the wire by Counter Offer.

“He’s had little things that have happened and he’s grown up mentally and physically, and today he showed up with his game face on,” O’Connell said of the Florida-bred Well Defined, a son of With Distinction by Fru Fru, out of Medaglia d’Oro. “I like this horse a lot and the decision (on what’s next) will be up to the owners (Gilbert and Marilyn Campbell’s Stonehedge, LLC), but we just want him healthy. Maybe the (Grade II, $400,000 Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby on March 9) – who knows.”

“His rear end slipped out from underneath him in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile,” she said, “and he was compromised on early position when he ran in the Mucho Macho Man and got bottled up inside. He’s a young horse who is improving, mind-wise and everything-wise.”

KATHLEEN O’CONNELL, TRAINER OF WINNER WELL DEFINED

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