Pony Picks from Mountaineer Park

The featured race on Mountaineer Park’s card on Tuesday night is a $10,000 non-winners of 2 lifetime event.

We’ll get into those races later. In the mean time, let’s keep taking pot-shots at some of these small time claimers at tracks like Mountaineer.

Mountaineer Park – Race 8

$10,000 Claiming n2L

For Three Year Olds and Up Which Have Never Won Two Races

1 mile and 70 yards on dirt

JT Morgan – - 3/1 morning line odds

JT Morgan should go off the chalk in this race after running at this level in his last and losing by only 1 ¼ lengths after finishing second. His trainer, Robert Pion, is winning at a 50% clip at the meet. That’s tough to do at Mountaineer. I’m not a big fan of betting chalk, but Pion really has this guy ready to win. He claimed this gelding, ran him in a $15,000 claimer n3L where he finished 5th by 6 ½ lengths, then bumped him down to the $10,000 level where he lost by only 1 ¼ lengths. Now, he shows up at the same level in the third race of his form cycle. He’s ready to win and Pion knows it.

Empire Pass – - 5/1 morning line odds

Empire Pass is coming off of a race where he won first time for 40% meet winner Michael Baird. He could bounce in this race and the fact that he comes from the clouds is a huge concern. But if Baird has him right and he improves just a bit, he could end up beating JT Morgan. He’ll be going off at better odds, that’s for sure.

Starry Image – - 8/1 morning line odds

This gelding bounced in his last when facing JT Morgan. He lost by 11 lengths to JT Morgan and there’s no doubt that JT Morgan could do the same thing to him in this but he did run exceptionally well on the mud two races ago. If the track comes up wet, then he’s worth considering. If not, he might be a throw-out because neither his jockey nor his trainer is all that good.

Wagering Strategy

I have a lot of confidence in JT Morgan. I’ll make a bet on JT Morgan to win and place. I will also use JT Morgan as a key horse in a nice sized exacta over Starry Image and Empire Pass.