Jeff Siegel's Prime Picks for Sunday, March 29 at Santa Anita

The early portion of the Sunday program doesn’t look particularly appealing. In the 2nd race, #5 Position A seems worth a straight play at 5/2 on the morning line while making his first start since late December. The Mandella-trained colt has trained like he’s fit and ready and should enjoy this downhill turf course. He switches to Bejarano and figures to be on or near the lead throughout. We’ll jump ahead to the 4th race and use #8 Hurley’s Way and #9 Olympic Magic in an exacta box. Hurley’s Way has the ideal style for this extended sprint trip and a repeat of his last race will make him hard to handle. Olympic Magic, a route-to-sprint play, lands the cozy outside post, has winning connections and fits on numbers. The 6th race is a straight maiden state bred sprint for 3-year-old fillies and the best of the known element are #2 Ale’s Pride and #4 Irridescent Red. We’ll also toss in the debuting #6 Mama Rosa for an exacta/trifecta box. Ale’s Pride returns to sprinting, adds blinkers, and will be tough with a repeat of her highly-rated runner up try two races back. Irridescent Red exits a very fast heat and with continued improvement she’ll be on or near the lead throughout. Mama Rose is a first timer with good works from a barn whose debuts runners often perform better than their odds. She’s worth using at 6-1 on the morning line. We’ve always thought #8 Liberian Freighter would be effective sprinting and after a long series of two-turn races, the Drysdale-trained gelding gets a chance down the hill. Bejarano should have him along in time as an ideal rolling exotic single. Phoenix invader #4 Carlsbad tries the big leagues in the 8th race and we think she’ll be more than up to the task. The Mullins-trained filly ran out of competition at Turf Paradise, has trained impressively since arriving in California and should be able to keep her unbeaten streak alive with anything close to her best effort. Calbred maidens run a mile on grass in the 9th race and #2 Renegade Storm, an improving colt in Marty Jones’ barn, may be the one to beat, along with #4 Compari and #10 Enriched. Renegade Storm adds blinkers, switches to Bejarano, and worked very well since his last race. He’ll be doing his best running late. Compari is bred to run long on the lawn (Redattore) and flashed promise when third in a hot sprint in his only outing. Enriched is a half-brother to Lava Man and with two good sprint preps under his belt, the Dollase-trained gelding should be set to stretch out and show his best form.