US Horse Racing Tips: Three to Pick from at Woodbine

A win and a place from our three selections yesterday kick starts what had been to that point, a pretty bang average week so far.

For Thursday, all of our Extra Place Race picks actually come from north of the border as we travel up to Woodbine for three races. As always all of our tips come from outside the top three according to the odds on the Morning Line…

Over the border in Woodbine is where the bulk of the Stateside Extra Place Races take place today and in the first (21:40), it is Cedar Valley who gets the nod from me.

This six-year-old mare hasn’t had a great season on the track and if you look solely at her recent results, you’d struggle to back this Cary Brooks trained daughter of Grade I winner Itsmyluckyday to hit the board. Yet if you look deeper at her recent workout history, you’ll see some speed returning.

On August 9, she was one of 18 horses breezing at Woodbine and topped the lot going four furlongs in 46 seconds flat. She put up her best speed figure of the year last time out as well, finishing second in a six-and-a-furlong race. Priced up at 6/1 on the Morning Line, worth an each-way punt.

Half-an-hour later in the 22:10 at the same track I’m going for a bit of a long-priced punt in Silent But Violent.

This five-year-old returns to Woodbine having spent the past year or so in smaller lower-quality fields over at Fort Erie, where she’s thrived and taken a big step forward compared to her initial stint here at Canada’s top track.

She had a long break after October last year but in her two races back so far this term, we’ve seen a win and a strong second. In both of those runs, her Equibase speed figure got into the 60s for the first time since 2020. So clearly this Joshua Robillard trained horse has come back off that long layoff looking slightly better. I’m not expecting a win but has a shot at the top-three and if we get the 10/1 on the Morning Line, happy days.

To round out our three picks for Thursday, for the second time in this column, I’m taking a 10/1 shot on the Morning Line looking for a really big priced place to come in.

The 23:40 at Woodbine has attracted a really decent looking field of seven for this six-and-a-half furlong sprint on the all-weather but I’m looking outside the top three (as always) and did you know that Sugar Ray has a better top equibase speed figure than the current favourite, Cotton? That was a surprise to me.

This five-year-old out of five-time Graded Stakes winner Street Sense has endured a long layoff and didn’t look great shaking off the rust last time out. Back in 2022 however he won twice and hit the board on two occasions in four straight. Plenty of quality here and a run at the level we saw last year would put him firmly in the thick of things.

One thing to note however as Pietro Moran will get the ride, he’s the young apprentice and is the son of injured jockey David Moran. So not much experience and that could be a factor. At 10/1 and the sixth choice of seven though, I’m happy with a small each-way play.