Sunday's Best Bet: First Peace can strike first at Santa Anita
Sunday’s seventh race at Santa Anita is the $100,000 John Shear Stakes for 3-year-olds dashing 6 1/2 furlongs on the turf course. The scheduled post time is 6 p.m. EDT.
Click here for Santa Anita entries and results.
No. 2 First Peace (4-1) is a miler with early-pressing speed turning back in distance. He switched to turf second time out, and set the pace and missed by a half-length at six panels that day. He wired the field in his one mile turf maiden win and hit the board in his last two flat mile stakes starts.
No. 4 Conclude (8-5) chased, led, and missed by a half-length in his turf sprint bow on Jan. 21. He was the solid favorite second time out, and he scooted to the front and easily graduated that day. Flavien Prat stays put and he wins races with Phil D’Amato.
No. 3 Valiancer (4-1) lost his first eight starts but hit the board in five of those races. He broke through with his first win in a turf sprint on Feb. 11, and went last-to-first on March 19. He should get pace to chase and might run past these.
Get Jarrod’s Santa Anita analysis.
Wagers
No. 2 to win
Exacta 2-4/2-3-4
Trifecta 2-4/ALL/3
Recent Best Bet winners
March 25 – West Will Power ($7.20), exacta ($15.60)
March 27 – Tiergarten/Precocious Times/Cheekiest trifecta ($89.80)
Wednesday – Ego Man ($4.80), exacta ($21.80), trifecta ($39.80)