Oaks Day Best Bets for Friday
Welcome to a special edition of Team Tuley’s Thoroughbred Takes as we look for value on Friday’s Kentucky Oaks card.
The other members of our crew – Rampart race and sports book manager Duane Colucci, Ed Sehon and John Lauro have already posted their Kentucky Oaks plays and Oaks-Derby Doubles in the VSiN Kentucky Derby Betting Guide.
Also, don’t forget that Sehon (aka Mr. Ed) has his Best Bets for Friday’s Churchill card on VSiN.com/horse-racing/.
For the rest of our Kentucky Derby Weekend coverage, check out VSiN’s Derby page.
But here’s my pick for Friday’s Kentucky Oaks as well as an Oaks-Derby Double after the unprecedented 3 scratches on Thursday.
Churchill Race No. 11 (5:51 p.m. ET/2:51 p.m. PT)
Dave Tuley likes #6 Botanical (6-1 morning line) in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks. We don’t have a bombs-away filly in Friday’s Oaks, but we hope to get the weekend started and be live to my four colts in the Derby with the Oaks-Derby Double that you have to place on Friday before the 11th race. #7 Wet Paint is the favorite with three straight wins at Oaklawn, but we like Botanical just as much with four straight wins under jockey Chris Landeros at Turfway. In my eyes, this race comes down to a match race between these two (so I wouldn’t blame anyone for including Wet Paint in the Double) with the edge going to the front-running Botanical playing catch-me-if-you-can. After the scratch of my top Derby pick, Practical Move, on Thursday, #3 Two Phil’s (12-1 morning line) is now my top play, and I’m also on record as including #9 Skinner, #18 Rocket Can and #21 Cyclone Mischief in my exotics (and Win bets if they exceed their morning-line odds). Friday wagers: Win on 6, plus Oaks-Derby Double on 6 in the Oaks to 3,9,18,21 in the Derby.
Friday update: with the scratch of Skinner on Friday after this column was posted, that reduced our Oaks-Derby Double to just three horses tomorrow. For our purposes here, we’ll stick with that. Note: if anyone bet the Double on Friday before the scratch, they will get the Derby post-time favorite in place of Skinner (likely #15 Forte).
Good luck today (and every day)!
