How to bet Saturday's Keeneland all-stakes Pick 4 on a budget
Keeneland will on Saturday host an all-stakes Pick 4 featuring the Grade 2, $1 million Blue Grass Stakes, with the wager carrying a $400,000 guaranteed pool. The sequence begins at 4:35 p.m. ET with the Grade 2 Shakertown, carded at Race 7, and includes the Grade 1 Madison, Grade 1 Ashland and then the Blue Grass.
The all-stakes Pick 4 will have a minimum bet of 50 cents. Once again, I will use one of my favorite cost-effective Pick 4 wagering strategies, the spread ticket formula. It would cost $270 to lump all of my contenders on one ticket, but the spread ticket formula knocks the price down to a very reasonable $34.
Keeneland All-Stakes Pick 4 Contenders
KEE 7 (G2 Shakertown, 5.5T)
Primary - #9 BIG HANDSOME, #5 Bucchero
Secondary - #13 Disco Partner, #2 Commute, #8 Tombelaine, #7 Will Call
Comments: Big Handsome fired trifecta shots in all seven turf starts, and he won three turf sprints in 2017. Bucchero reconnects with winning rider De La Cruz, and he won the Woodford at this course/distance last fall.
KEE 8 (G1 Madison, 7f)
Primary - #3 SALTY, #10 Ami’s Mesa
Secondary - #11 American Gal, #8 Miss Sunset, #2 Lewis Bay, #12 Finley’sluckycharm
Comments: Salty is most effective as a late running sprinter, and she graduated at this distance. Ami’s Mesa is a seven panel specialist with a nose for the wire. She just missed in her lone dirt try in the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint.
KEE 9 (G1 Ashland, 8.5f)
Primary - #1 MONOMOY GIRL
Secondary - #2 Eskimo Kisses, #5 Andina Del Sur
Comments: Monomoy Girl is 4-for-5 with her lone loss a neck defeat in the Golden Rod. She overcame a bad start to win the Rachel Alexandra from off the pace, and she fired a local bullet for this on April 1.
KEE 10 (G2 Blue Grass, 9f)
Primary - #10 FREE DROP BILLY, #11 Good Magic
Secondary - #12 Flameaway, #2 Sporting Chance, #9 Tiz Mischief
Comments: Free Drop Billy hit the board in both of his 2018 starts, and he won the Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland last fall. Good Magic was a flat 3rd in his Fountain of Youth return. The Breeders' Cup Juvenile hero could move forward.
Tickets' total cost - $34