Indiana Grand Race Course Picks – Wednesday, October 21, 2020

Thoroughbred racing at Indiana Grand Race Course continues apace with ten maiden, allowance, and claiming matches for Wednesday.

Spectators should expect a fifty-fifty chance of thunderstorms for the day, with highs in the upper 60s and mild winds around eight mph.

Read on for my Indiana Grand Race Course picks.

This is a maiden special weight race for Indiana-bred and -sired fillies and mares three years old and upward running a distance of six furlongs for a purse of $35,000.

This race may be as tight as the morning line suggests, but I‘m backing the 1/1 favorite—Big Blue Emu, with Eduardo E. Perez in the irons. This three-year-old filly finished in the money three of her four career starts. Good record, but with veteran jockey Deshawn Parker aboard the second-favored Valsheba, both Perez and Big Blue Emu will have to work for the win.

There are two 20/1 longshots in this maiden race, but their workout statistics suggest rather strongly that they are not contenders here.

This is an allowance race for Indiana-bred and -sired fillies and mares three years old and upward running a distance of six furlongs for a purse of $37,000.

Looks like another race for the favorite, but who doesn’t love a horse that breaks its maiden on its first career start? That’s the morning line’s 1/1 favorite in this race—Hitthefloorrunning, piloted by Andres Ulloa, who also rode the three-year-old for her victorious maiden run.

The longer-odds entries in this race are just that, very unlikely to finish in the money.

This is an allowance race for two-year-old fillies running a distance of six furlongs for a purse of $32,500.

I find myself agreeing with the morning line yet again—I’m backing the 8/5 favorite, Novel Squall, with veteran jockey Emmanuel Esquivel aboard. This filly moneyed one of her two career starts, the first of which was her maiden, while the second—and non-money—finish was in the ungraded E. L. Gaylord Memorial Stakes (she placed fourth).

At 30/1, I can’t resist Showstomper, with Joshua Morales aboard. This filly moneyed two of her three career starts, winning one. The pair have the additional advantage of Morales’ seven-pound apprentice allowance. Show bet only.

I found more underdogs and long-odds moneymakers at the other two tracks I reviewed: