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Sunday’s Super Bowl program – featuring a Pick-6 carryover of $85,150 – hopefully will be staged, and as of this writing the chances look good. The main track reportedly was in much better condition than expected late Saturday afternoon. As for the turf course, it has drained extremely well in the past, so we’re going to operate under the assumption that the grass races will go as is. Obviously you should check back on this web site for any late scratches and surface changes.

Friday’s program doesn’t start out very exciting – we’re going to pass the first two races – but it picks up thereafter and there seems to be a few money making opportunities later on, especially in rolling exotic play.

The first two events on today’s program, both with five horse fields, present little value so we’ll pass and concentrate on the Pick-6, which begins in the third race.

Here’s this week’s list of key performances covering the most recent five days of racing at Santa Anita:

A very attractive Pick-6 carryover pool of $126,946 awaits handicappers on Wednesday and after passing the first two races on the program – races that offer little value or interest – we’ll dive in and see if we can construct a playable ticket that makes economic sense to the modest player.

A good Sunday program begins with a $20,000 claiming dash that pretty much boils down to the two morning line favorites, #1 Spot the Diplomat and #2 Capt. Sparrow. The one to beat is Spot the Diplomat, who was blocked badly and lost his chance when trying to make a winning move vs. slightly stronger earlier this month, and if secures clear sailing today he’ll be tough to deny late. Capt. Sparrow exits a tougher race but is still well above his claim level, a solid endorsement from Carava who generally runs his stock where they can win.

A strong and challenging 11 race program on Sunshine Millions Day begins with a $25,000 restricted claiming dash for fillies and mares, and both #3 Yodelady O and #7 Joint Agreement have credentials to win, but neither appear trustworthy. The former hasn't won since 2008 while the latter, comfortably placed outside and exiting a productive heat, is just 1-for-18 overall and simply doesn’t appear to have a winning punch. Let’s pass.

Real nice day yesterday and those who used the horses we mentioned in the early Pick-4 (races 1-4) cashed for $682.80 while spending only $27.00. A number of rolling daily doubles and Pick-3s throughout the day made it one of the more profitable afternoons of the season for followers of this column. Let’s see what we can do on Friday.

Thursday’s card is no piece of cake – as if some of them are – but it does present the potential from a few lucrative rolling exotic plays, so let’s dive in and see what happens.

Wednesday’s program begins with a maiden claiming sprint for 3-year-old fillies and #9 Pat Olcott should be a short price to win it. Second in both of her last two starts with numbers that would be good enough to beat this field, the daughter of More Than Ready lands the comfortably outside post, gets a break in the weights with the switch to Reyes and should be the controlling speed.