Pimlico Race Course photo by Eclipse Sportswire

America’s Best Racing and DerbyJackpot team up to provide horseplayers with their best bets of the weekend in a regular feature blog that will run on Fridays.

Each week, one of our crack handicappers - Jose Contreras, Dan Tordjman, Victoria Garofalo or Cory Moelis – will provide at least one “Best Bet” of the weekend, ideal for a win bet.

The post also will include some combination of additional bets for the weekend.

For some posts, our handicappers will try to identify a longshot play of the weekend, a nice opportunity to swing for the fences on a win bet or to take a shot with a show bet.

Our handicappers also will look for strong exacta plays for the weekend or occasionally try to spot a nice opportunity to bet a trifecta or superfecta.

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Saturday, April 25

Best Bet (Win Bet/ Monkey Bet)

Pimlico, Race 3, 2:06 p.m. ET

#5 Learaig: Very interesting horse. Learaig ships in from France to make his U.S. debut in what looks like a pretty soft, 1 1/16-mile turf race. He'll be getting Lasix (furosemide) for the first time in addition to being a first-time gelding and adding blinkers. Trainer Tres Abbott tabbed Forest Boyce to ride. These two strike at better than 20% and teamed up for a stakes win last weekend at Pimlico.

Exacta Box (Gonzo Bet)

Pimlico, Race 5, 3:02 p.m. ET

#5 The Man’s Hoss: This horse hasn’t been in for a claiming price since October 2013, when he beat $25,000 non-winners of two by five lengths at Laurel Park. Trevor McCarthy was aboard that day and nine races later, he returns to ride here. That race was sandwiched between two very strong turf sprints, including an allowance win. His most recent turf try was at Pimlico last April. He had a ton of trip trouble in that one and didn’t really factor. He looks like a horse who’ll enjoy the turf  while returning from more than 11 months on the sidelines. The only concern is that trainer King Leatherbury’s first-off-the-layoff numbers aren’t great.

#8 Agonistic: He’s nearly 50% in the money (finishing first, second or third) sprinting on the turf and has a win on the grass at Pimlico - although it was three years ago. Pimentel has gotten the most out of this horse every time he’s been on, including a win at the $12,500 claiming level when the horse was last seen at Laurel in November.

#1 Billy Two Hats: The main speed of the race beat up on claiming company at the Fair Grounds, wiring back-to-back fields in January and March. This is his first time trying the lawn at Pimlico, but overall he’s 8-for-12 in the money at the distance. He could steal this one unless he gets sufficient pressure from #9 Show Me the Way to his outside.

Sunday, April 26

Exacta Box (Gonzo Bet)

Pimlico, Race 2, 1:38 p.m. ET

#1 Puget Sound: I wouldn’t say he loves Pimlico, but he has done well on the main track. He won a claiming race here last May going this same 1 1/16 miles at odds of 10.50-to-1. Overall, he’s 3-for-4 in the money at Pimlico and always seems to kick late. He’s a little pace dependent but a very logical horse to use at this bottom-claiming level. I like the fact that owner Greg Demetri and trainer Jay Bernardini have reclaimed this horse a few times after they’ve lost him. Bernardini scores at a 24% rate second off the layoff, and he’s having a nice meet, having already won a few races with jockey Yomar Ortiz up.

#3 Termsofengagement: Clearly, he didn’t like the turf at Pimlico in his most recent start. If you look two and three races back, however, he was coasting at a 1 1/16 miles facing this kind of company. He set pretty slow early fractions in those races, but if he can get away with something similar, he’ll be dangerous in this spot. He actually has a stakes win at Pimlico, but that was way back in 2008 in the Woodlawn Stakes when this now-10-year-old was just starting his career.

#7 Set to Go: Set to Go owns the highest last-out Beyer Speed Figure. If the pace is slow, he can stick close enough to it to have a shot late. He looks to be in slightly better form than the rest.

Best Bet (Win Bet/ Monkey Bet)

Pimlico, Race 8, 4:26 p.m. ET

#9 Cement Clement: This horse showed good speed on the turf at Gulfstream Park when last seen in stakes company going 1 1/16 miles. The turn back to 5 1/2 furlongs should help him, and it's encouraging to see that he posted a really strong number the only time he tried going 5 1/2 furlongs back in October at Laurel. The stretch at Pimlico is a little different, and he'll have to be positioned a lot closer to the pace here than he was in that race. Cement Clement has a top, local turf jockey in Horacio Karamanos aboard, however, which should ensure a heads-up ride.