Top pick: #9 (MAGICAL AFFAIR) - Nice debut at Laurel for a trainer (Mike Matz) that rarely has them "fully cranked" for their debuts. Daughter of "Giant's Causeway" cost $1,550,000 so you can understand him being patient with her. She set the pace in that mile race at Laurel and held well while tiring to finish second. Last work at Palm Meadows looks like they mean business today, and she draws a nice post for this one-turn mile.
2nd pick: #5 (Past Twilight) - Filly was improving late in the fall in Kentucky and has been freshened-up for the past two months by trainer Eddie Kenneally. She worked four times in December at Palm Meadows so she should be fit and ready.
3rd pick: #3 (Our Dahlia) - She finished a close-up third at this one-turn mile on November 20, at Churchill in a nice performance. Trainer Ken McPeek had a sharp half-mile drill put into her on this surface on Dec. 18.