Super Screener: Value plays kick off Ohio Derby double
One of only two graded stakes this weekend in North America is Saturday at Thistledown where the Ohio Derby caps a 12-race card that closes with an all-stakes Pick 5.
The penultimate race is the $250,000 Lady Jacqueline Stakes for older females going the Ohio Derby distance of 1 1/8 miles. Standoutsensation is the 3-1 morning line favorite, and Super Screener thinks she is opposable here.
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In addition to full coverage of the Lady Jacqueline and Ohio Derby at Jack Thistledown, this week's Super Screener has strategy on the all-stakes pick 4 that concludes with the Ohio Derby, and the Lady Jacqueline features prominently in that strategy given the opposition to the morning line favorite.
"The warmup for the Ohio Derby is the Lady Jacqueline, and both races are 1 1/8 miles over a track that plays fair to any Energy Distribution Profile with a slight advantage to horses drawn on the inside," Mike Shutty writes. "The pace will clock in a few ticks faster than par, and it will be led by Tirupati in her first go on dirt and nine furlongs. She'll be pressed by Standoutsensation and Candlelight Hours.
"Super Screener prefers the Mark Casse-trained Nerazurri, who enjoyed a successful winter campaign save for Grade 1 company being too tough for her. She got the brief break she needed and completed an excellent work series that closed with a bullet drill. She'll save ground throughout and will have just 2 to 3 lengths to make up on the pace leader when tapping into that superior late foot to sprint by them all."
Super Screener scored Low Country Magic right behind Nerazurri, and that pair features prominently in wagering strategy related both to the aforementioned all-stakes multi-race wagers as well as vertically in the Lady Jacqueline.