Santa Anita’s $2 Pick 6 will begin with a $68,636 carryover pool this Friday, April 25. The road to solving the sequence will go for “miles” on end. Five races will be contested at the same distance, with nine or more entrants in each. Here’s a closer look:

SA 4th race (5:37 p.m. EST) -- PRECEDENT LUKE took aim at a suddenly sharp, class-dropping winner at Turf Paradise and finished third despite having ‘trouble changing leads.’ He makes his second start off a nine-month layoff with plenty of route race experience to summon. BRUISER appeared hopelessly beaten turning for home, but he closed like a wild horse in the final sixteenth to win going away at this distance. Post 10 is the drawback but the price is right to include him on the ticket.

SA 5th race (6:08 p.m. EST) -- HELLO KID O KID O ‘kept the heat on’ WE THE HOBBY through the far turn before the 45-1 winner passed by at 1-1/8 miles. Both California-bred 3-year-olds are major players again on the cutback to one mile. KIKURIDE, brushed out of the gate in her 6F debut, earned favoritism today with a late rush for third, finishing ahead of a next-out winner.

SA 6th race (6:39 p.m. EST) -- STOP DIGGING, no threat in a fast-pace long sprint two months ago, finished second in four consecutive starts on dirt late in her 3-year-old season. She did it while meeting four next-out winners in one race and earning comments like ‘fought between rivals’ and ‘took over at the quarter pole’ and ‘ran out of ground’ in the other three races. We’ll keep digging and give her one more chance to win today as a solo play.

SA 7th race (7:09 p.m. EST) -- Trainer Phil D’Amato is 14/5-4-1 in the last month with all but one winner going off at 9-2 odds or higher. He sent out 147 winners on the Santa Anita turf in the last three years. Play his uncoupled entry: MR. BRIGHTSIDE, who was disqualified from a win in this spot three starts back and finished third behind the pace-controlling favorite at 1-1/8 miles last out; and UPCHARGE, who finished third in his last two starts behind next-out allowance winners who posted 81 and 80 Beyer speed figures, respectively.

SA 8th race (7:39 p.m. EST) -- OUR MOONLIGHT returns from a smashing 6F debut in December with a pair of sizzling workouts. She lost momentum when crowded on the turn, but swung wide at the top of the stretch and blew past the 4-to-5 pace setter to win by 2-3/4 lengths in-hand. She gets Lasix for a 35 percent ‘repeat’ barn and gets the call in this $50,000 optional claiming race.

SA 9th race (8:09 p.m. EST) -- With room to spare on the Pick 6 ticket, go five-deep in the finale. GARDEN PARTY, the daughter of Grade 2-winning router Clubhouse Ride, followed the move of the trip-sitting winner and got up to finish second in mid-track in her first try at one mile. She worked smartly since then but still adds little value to the ticket. SEI BELLA finished in the money in two sprints thus far and will try to follow the footsteps of her dam, Awesome Baby, who won back-to-back graded stakes at 6-1/2F and 1-1-/16 miles, respectively, as a 3-year-old. O K ROSE lost momentum twice and regrouped to finish second as the favorite in the same spot, but she raced a bit erratically and hasn’t been seen in nine months. MISS MCKINZIE didn’t show her usual speed on the surface switch, but she dueled 3-wide on the turn in a long sprint on the dirt in the race prior, yielding to a next-out stakes winner. WINTER SNOW was heavily bet but had little to offer in two starts, but trainer Jeff Mullins is going well right now and intent on keeping her in MSW company off a three-month break.

Suggested $2 Ticket
SA 4th Race: 7, 10
SA 5th Race: 4, 5, 7
SA 6th Race: 1
SA 7th Race: 3, 5
SA 8th Race: 2
SA 9th Race: 1, 3, 6, 8, 9
Cost: $120