Bob Pandolfo offers his picks for the $50,000 Pick-4 at Meadowlands Racetrack on March 7, part of the U.S. Trotting Association Strategic Wagering Program.

Meadowlands Pick-4, Races 7-10, Thursday, March 7, 2013

Last week's results: Last Thursday I had $21.80 Boinga in the Pick-4 but not much else. On Friday I had two out of four. On Saturday I singled two horses, my Best Bet, Veal Marsala, who won and paid $7.20, and Dial Or Nodial, who was scratched. Because one of my singles was scratched it was a no-bet on Saturday. For the week I lost $54 on Thursday and $48 on Friday ($102).

Since it’s so hard to hit these Pick-4s at the Meadowlands, starting tonight I'm going to experiment so we can try to see what the best approach is. I'm going to create two tickets, one with a maximum bet of $64, and another "whale" ticket with a maximum of $320. I realize that most people reading this will not bet $320 into the Pick-4, but I think it will be interesting to see what my hit percentage will be with the bigger bet. Let's be real here, the people who actually win consistently and show a profit betting Pick-4s at the Meadowlands are making these bigger bets.

$1 small play: 3510/3910/48/167 = $54
$1 large play: 135610/2356910/48/126710 = $300

Analysis:

Race 7: (3) Tamayo and (5) Cambassador are the sharp obvious horses here but my top pick was Woodbine shipper (10) P J Lucky who gets a big driver change and lasix.

Race 8: My Best Bet is (9) B L Class Act off a key driver change to leading driver Gingras but this is a competitive trot.

Race 9: I think (4) Cane Ridge and (8) Laguna Beach are solid choices here and I only used these two.

Race 10: These C-2 events have been competitive and I had to spread and use three contenders on one ticket and five on my larger ticket.