Best Horse Racing Bets for Thursday, October 28, 2021

I visited Delaware Park, Gulfstream Park, and Indiana Grand Racecourse to find my picks for Thursday.

Amongst the abundance of morning-line favorites, I found several 8/1 sleepers as well as a few other choice moneymakers.

Before you head on down to my picks, be sure to take a look at the full race-cards for each of Thursday’s three tracks at our top horseracing wagering sites.

Good luck!

Let’s start on the main track with race five, a mile and 70 yards allowance optional claiming run for fillies and mares three years old and upward.

This race belongs to the 3/2 morning-line favorite, Rush Hour Traffic, ridden by veteran jockey Carol Cedeno.

Campaigned aggressively at the stakes level, this four-year-old filly finished in the money 13 of her 15 career starts, winning four, including the Princess Elaine Minnesota Distaff Turf Championship Stakes (Black Type) at Canterbury Park in September.

She’s competed in seven stakes races thus far, and she’s moneyed all seven.

Brett A. Brinkman trains Rush Hour Traffic for owner-breeder Sugarland Thoroughbreds LLC.

Race six is a six-furlong starter allowance run on the main track for fillies and mares three years old and upward.

This is my no-brainer pick for the day: The 4/5 morning-line favorite, Free to Fly, with top jockey Paco Lopez in the irons.

There are plenty of solid competitors in this seven-horse field, but this five-year-old mare still shines: 26 money finishes in 43 career starts, 16 of them wins.

Not that impressive, you say? Okay, let’s look at how she’s done in 2021: 13 money finishes in 13 starts, ten of them wins. She is presently on a six-race winning streak.

For race seven — a six-panel allowance optional claiming run on the main track for two-year-old fillies — I’m betting my two dollars on an 8/1 sleeper: Special Beam, with Paco Lopez aboard.

This filly won her single career start earlier this month at Delaware Park. That — and Paco Lopez — is enough to convince me she’ll lead this nine-horse field to the wire.

Longtime racing veteran Anthony Pecoraro trains Special Beam for owner-breeder A. Delaperriere Stables, LLC.

We’re starting on the main track with race six, a one-mile claiming run for three-year-olds and upward that have never won two races. I like the third-favored (at 7/2) Seazan, ridden by Hector Isaac Berrios.

In addition to winning his second maiden attempt, he went on to finish third in both the FTBOA Florida Sire Affirmed Stakes (Black Type) and the FTBOA Florida Sire in Reality Stakes (Black Type) late last year at Gulfstream Park.

Carlos A. David trains Seazan for Auricchio and Jacobson LLC/RaDon.

Let’s move to the all-weather track for race seven, a 5-1/2-furlong allowance optional claiming run for two-year-olds. I’m going to back the 8/5 morning-line favorite here: Barone Cesco, with Edgard J. Zayas in the irons.

This colt finished in the money for two of his three career starts, winning his first maiden attempt in August at Saratoga, then finishing third in the Hollywood Beach Stakes (Black Type) in September here at Gulfstream Park.

Antonio Sano trains Barone Cesco for Cammarota Racing LLC.

This gelding — trained by Gerald Brooks for owner Carl L. Hess, Jr. — only moneyed two of his six career starts, but those were both wins. More to the point, they were his two most recent starts. It could happen.

Race eight is a mile and 70 yards starter allowance run on the all-weather track for three-year-olds and upward. My money’s on the 9/5 morning-line favorite, Max K.O., piloted by Edgard J. Zayas.

This five-year-old finished in the money 14 of his 29 career starts, winning nine.

Incidentally, his speed figures for his last four starts have all been well into triple digits.

Top-ranked Saffie A. Joseph, Jr. trains Max K.O. for Ten Twenty Racing.

We’re on the main track for race two at Indiana Grand, a six-panel starter allowance run for three-year-olds and upward.

This five-year-old gelding finished in the money 19 of his 27 career starts, winning eleven. Even better, in 2021, he’s moneyed all eight of his starts, winning the most recent six.

Antonio Meraz trains Malpais for owner Francisco Villa.

Race five is a one-mile allowance run on the main track for Indiana-bred three-year-olds and upward that have never won two races. I’m going with the second-favored (at 5/2) Mr Hoover, ridden by Edgar Morales.

Sure, I see that the 8/5 favorite, Flying Samurai, won a race this year, but that was on his ninth attempt to break his maiden.

Me, I like to bet on a horse that didn’t have to have “go fast and win” explained to him nine times.

Breeders’ Cup veteran Thomas M. Amoss trains Mr Hoover for Stingers, LLC.

Race six is a six-furlong allowance optional claiming run on the main track for Indiana-bred fillies and mares three years old and upward. I like the fourth-favored (at 8/1) Myers Tiger, with veteran jockey Fernando De La Cruz aboard.

This four-year-old filly has the statistical lead in this six-horse race: Eight money finishes in 16 career starts, with four wins.

A four-decade racing veteran, Kim Hammond trains Myers Tiger for owners Willowbrook Stables, Ltd. (Neiman) and Jerry Carden.