US Horse Racing Tips: Accurate is ready to Place at Thistledown

This week has been quite the success so far for our US Extra Place Race column.

On Tuesday we had 10/1 and 14/1 places and last night, another 14/1 place to go along with a winner, albeit Raise the Rent was bet into 7/4 as a SP, so not as big a price as we’d hoped.

We go three races deep again tonight and as always, every selection comes from outside the top-three according to the Morning Line odds…

Thursday starts for us with the first Extra Place Race on the docket where in the 18:20 at Thistledown, I’m taking an 8/1 shot on the Morning Line to outperform those odds in Accurate.

This five-year-old by Graded Stakes winner Trappe Shot has enjoyed a relatively mundane career with just three wins to go along with nine places in his 26 starts. That doesn’t exactly scream ‘must bet’ but his recent form has been much stronger and that consistency we look for in picking horses in this column has certainly been evident.

In his past seven outings, he’s hit the board six times. That is much more like it and in a relatively weak field for this State Bred one-mile race, this Susan Yoder-trained gelding has a good chance to continue that good streak of recent performances. A win might be wishful thinking but a top three finish is certainly not beyond the pale. 

Over at Presque Isle Downs next for us and the 21:21 where the eight-year-old Captain Mad Jack has been in a rich vein of form in recent runs that belies his 10/1 price on the Morning Line.

This eight-year-old has been racing since 2017 and has a whopping 63 starts to his name. His career has been similar to our first selection of the day, pretty average but he does have eight wins and 25 other races where he has placed. So solid enough.

Last time out he put up his best Equibase speed figure for two years with a 85 in winning a six-and-a-half furlong race at this track. He came runner-up in his two previous outings as well. 

It might not be the most prolonged run of form that we’ve seen but it is worth an each-way shot at the price being offered for yet another relatively low-quality State Bred race.

Our final play of the day comes from over the border at Woodbine where a six-year-old has enjoyed a much better history on turf compared to the dirt and she’s back on grass this evening.

Ashbury has won twice and finished runner-up on two occasions in her 14 career starts. Bleh. When you look solely at her performances on the turf however, it looks an awful lot better. 

Both of her wins have come on grass and one of her places as well. When you consider that she’s only appeared on turf on six occasions, that is a much better ratio compared to one place from eight starts on the dirt. 

She looks set to be the sixth choice in the betting according to the Morning Line and again worth a small each-way play.