Friday's Best Bet: Nice Ice a theft candidate at Santa Anita

Friday’s 7th race from Santa Anita Park is a $40,000 claiming event for fillies and mares traveling one mile on the turf course (Post Time 7:14 p.m. ET).

#5 Nice Ice (7-2) remains above her $20k claimed price and she might be the controlling speed in this spot. She ran well in a couple of OC-20k/1x California-bred flat mile turf races at Del Mar over the summer. She set the pace and was outkicked vs. better open $40k optional claimers Sept. 25, and Tyler Baze should be able to dictate terms in this paceless affair.

#3 Lucky Peridot (2-1) is back in for a tag and handles a route of ground. Flavien Prat guided her to a place finish in a Del Mar dirt sprint Sept. 6 and he has excellent stats when he rides for Peter Miller. This one has a habit of landing the show in local turf races.

#7 Kittyhawk Lass (9-2) looked good scoring in her first start after the claim vs. $25k claiming turf routers at Del Mar Sept. 6. I like the class hike but there is not much pace to chase in the paper race.

#6 Clearly Gone (4-1) rallied for the place in the same $25k race Kittyhawk Lass exits. Peter Miller excels first start the claim and she will try to get involved late.  

Wagers:

#5 to win

Exacta 5/3-6-7

Exacta 3-6-7/5

Trifecta 5/ALL/3

Recent Best Bet Winners

Oct. 4 - MUTASAABEQ ($6.00), Exacta ($93.60), Trifecta ($317.65)
Oct. 5 - SWEET SOUPER SWEET ($5.00), Trifecta ($98.95)
Oct. 6 - PORTAL CREEK ($4.00), Exacta ($12.60)
Oct. 9 - NORTH COUNTY GUY ($7.80)
Oct. 10 - HARVEY'S LIL GOIL ($9.20)
Oct. 16 - STUNNING SKY ($13.80), Trifecta ($462.80)
Oct. 21 - No Cents/Heir Port Exacta ($46.40), Superfecta ($155.40)
Oct. 22 - Galerio/Thundershook/Toughest 'Ombre Trifecta ($26.65)

Playing the horses can be a rewarding but tough game. Exacta, trifectas, superfectas, Pick 4s, Pick 5s -- there are so many wagers to play, it can get overly confusing. How do you know how much to play or which wagers to try? Unfortunately, part of the learning process can include losing money. But we would like to help you shortcut that process by learning some of the most common mistakes that horseplayers make on a daily basis. Take a look at Horse Racing Nation’s newest eBook -- “Top 10 Mistakes Horseplayers Make” -- and see if it helps you avoid some common mistakes and win more playing the races!