Expert Pick of the Week: Winning Colors Stakes
May 20, 2021
A total of six fillies and mares will go postward in the $150,000 Winning Colors S. (G3) at Churchill Downs on Saturday. The six-furlong feature on the main surface boasts a few ultra-talented ladies in the field, and the race will come down to that pair.
Bill Mott’s Frank’s Rockette has been a high-level performer since her juvenile season and has been first or second in 12 of her 13 lifetime performances. The bay makes her third start of 2021 and looms large with a top showing. She is the Expert Pick of the Week.
The four-year-old daughter of Into Mischief was Grade 1-placed as a two-year-old and carried that form into her sophomore campaign. Frank’s Rockette compiled a fine 7-5-1-0 mark in 2020, headlined by victories in the Gallant Bloom S. (G2) and Prioress S. (G2). Following an unplaced showing in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1) versus the boys in her sophomore finale, the talented Kentucky-bred has run well in both of her outings this year, with a win in the American Beauty S. among them.
In the Winning Colors, the filly has a fine draw directly outside of the expected pacesetter, which will allow her to track the early action from a good spot throughout. Frank’s Rockette, who is 2-for-2 lifetime at Churchill, loves to have a target to run at and should get an ideal voyage with Florent Geroux in the controls.
The Greg Foley-trained Sconsin is a Grade 2 vixen locally and has run some of her best races beneath the Twin Spires. By Include, the four-year-old comes off a superb showing when second to the wunderkind Gamine in the Derby City Distaff S. (G1) most recently, and she has posted a bullet half-mile drill in the interim.
Sconsin does her best work from off the pace, and I believe that her strong late kick will be enhanced on the cutback in distance on Saturday evening. Tyler Gaffalione will be in the stirrups atop the Kentucky-bred.
An exacta with Frank’s Rockette on top of Sconsin is the Best Bet of the Week
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