CHARLES TOWN PICKS AND HORSES TO WATCH: FEb. 18

Sleepy Eyes Todd
Sleepy Eyes Todd won the 2020 Grade 2 Charles Town Classic. Photo by Coady Photography.

Charles Town Races has an eight-race card on tap for this evening. Post time for the opener is 7:00 p.m., and we’ve got Charles Town picks.

Carryovers: Jackpot Pick 6, $8,057

Check out our other handicapping here!

RACE NUMBERCONTENDERSCOMMENTS
Race 42-6-4-3Interesting spot for #4 Knot Anymore (4-5) to show up. The Goldencents filly, a $170,000 auction purchase as a yearling, ran second on debut in a maiden special weight at Laurel with a pretty good effort and now ships to CT for her second career start. Not sure exactly what she was facing that day; the winner returned to be up the track in an allowance in her follow-up. Regardless, the signs indicate this one’s coming to win: trainer Brittany Russell doesn’t often ship to CT, and she’s slated to have go-to rider Jevian Toledo up. Toledo made just one start at CT in 2021… #6 Bet the Queen (6-1) has run OK against $25,000 maiden claimers at Penn National and makes her second start following a two-month break here. It’ll be her first in the barn of Stacey Viands… #4 Time Is Golden (7-5) obviously fits with these — she’s been beaten less than a length at this level three different times — but she’s still a maiden after seven starts, which doesn’t inspire the confidence to accept short odds. She’s also from the Viands barn and gets his go-to rider… #3 Rona (20-1) hasn’t been in great form of late but has a couple of efforts that would contend here…
Race 81-2-5-3Top choice #1 Petulant Delight (9-2) hasn’t run since June, when he cruised at Parx and was claimed by owner Bob Cole and trainer Irving Velez. Obviously, the key question is how he’ll come back; trainer Velez has a good record off long layoffs, and if this one’s ready, he could be a handful in here… #2 Gigging (5-2) has been facing better and most recently was fourth in an allowance at the Fair Grounds. The class relief should help… Let’s see if #5 Martin Man (6-1) can recapture the form that saw him finish second in the A Huevo (behind Muad’dib) and second twice versus these types. In his last he made a middle move before tiring in a three-turn allowance… That was really a pretty good effort last time by #3 Cielo Azul (5-1), who was the widest of a three-horse vanguard for much of the way and fought on on nearly even terms until the late stages…

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