Photo:

Richard Steele / Eclipse Sportswire

The Grade 2, $200,000 Oak Leaf kicks off Saturday’s Coast-to-Coast pick 5 with races from Santa Anita Park and Gulfstream Park. The sequence features three races scheduled on the turf, and the wager offers a low 15-percent takeout.

The popular $1 minimum wager begins at 5 p.m. EDT with the 1 1/16-mile Oak Leaf for 2-year-old fillies and concludes approximately an hour later with a one-mile maiden special weight event on the turf at Gulfstream for 3-year-olds and up.

Trainer Bob Baffert saddles four of the eight starters in Santa Anita’s Oak Leaf, the third race at Santa Anita and the first of this Pick 5 sequence. These include Nooni, a $1.8 million purchase who won her first two starts before finishing fifth Sept. 7 in the Del Mar Debutante (G1). Debutante winner Tenma, yes, trained by Baffert, returns. Trainer Michael McCarthy will send out Rio Del Sol, a daughter of American Freedom who enters off a third-place finish Aug. 25 in her debut. Jockey Flavien Prat is named.

Gulfstream’s ninth race for fillies and mares, the second race in the sequence, is an allowance optional claimer on a mile course. Pawky is a tepid 3-1 favorite breaking from the rail for jockey Edgard Zayas and trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. Pawky searches for her first win since March of 2023. A dozen will go to post including No Valla, a winner of two of her last three and first off the claim by trainer Amador Sanchez, who is 29 percent with first claims. Next Right Thing stretches out in distance for jockey Joe Bravo and trainer Patrick Biancone. The filly has a win and third in two turf sprints. If you’re a fan of the Kinks, Sleepwalker is on the also eligible list.

Santa Anita’s fourth race, the third in the Pick 5 sequence, is the $100,000 Speakeasy for 2-year-olds going five furlongs on the turf. Trainer Wesley Ward brings John Oxley’s Dreamaway west after winning the Colleen July 28 at Monmouth by 5 1/4 lengths. The daughter of Flameaway won her debut at Keeneland in April. Snowdonia cuts back in distance after finishing eighth in the Del Mar Juvenile Turf (G3). Kale’s Angel goes out for Peter Miller after breaking her maiden in her second start at the distance and on the surface.

The fourth race of the sequence, Santa Anita’s fifth race, is an allowance optional claimer at six furlongs on the main track. Nine entered including Vlahos, who was last seen on Kentucky Derby day finishing third behind Preakness winner Seize the Grey in the Pat Day Mile (G2). Doug O’Neill trains and Edwin Maldonado has been named to ride. Baffert saddles Pilot Commander, who returned after finishing second in the San Vincente (G2) in January to finish second Sept. 7 in an allowance optional claimer at Del Mar.

The coast-to-coast Pick 5 wraps up with a return to Gulfstream for its 11th race, a mile event for maidens aged 3 and up. Inherent Promise is 0-for-9 but was competitive over the summer on the turf at Saratoga for trainer Lisa Lewis. Drayden Van Dyke gets the ride. Goes the Clown has a third and second in his last two turf starts, beaten in both by less than two lengths. Emisael Jaramillo rides.