Top pick: #6 (GREAT FRIENDS RULE) (7-2) - Grey gelding set a pressured pace and weakened late to finish fourth here at this tag on Jan. 13. Race was his first since July 29th and since that return effort 3-year-old has a trio of fast works. The horse to beat.
2nd pick: #2 (Talk the Walk) (5-2) - The probable favorite, he was involved in a spirited pace-duel last out and held gamely to finish second. Race was at this level on Jan. 21 and it came off a 50 day fresheining and was his first on conventional dirt. Obvious win candidate.
3rd pick: #7 (Warrens Hornblower) (8-1) - Warren home-bred raced evenly when debuting here facing "open" $30K maidens on Jan. 20. Barn adds both lasix and blinkers and moves him up in price and in with fellow Cal.-breds.
4th pick: #1 (Win Machine) (8-1) - Nice effort last out saw him involved from just off the pace and tire a bit to finish 4th of 9, beaten just over 2 lengths. Has the rail and trainer Francis Meza has home-bred making back-to-back starts for the first time.