In his regular gambling blog, John Piassek presents his top picks for the upcoming weekend in horse racing, offering betting options at different budget levels. Piassek’s Plays is brought to you by Horseplayers.com, the official online qualifying site of the Breeders' Cup Betting Challenge (BCBC) and National Horseplayers Championship (NHC). Horseplayers.com offers low-cost feeders every day and BCBC and NHC qualifiers every weekend, and it’s the only site where you can qualify for the $1 million BCBC. It’s free to sign up – click here to get information about registering and how to enter contests.

Piassek has contributed to the horse racing sites The Racing Biz and Danonymous Racing and worked at Tioga Downs, Monmouth Park, and Saratoga Race Course. He joined America’s Best Racing in January 2021.

Saturday, Mar. 19

Aqueduct, Race 6, post time 3:54 p.m. ET

#8 Flowing River: A gigantic field of New York-bred maidens will travel 6 1/2 furlongs in this race. There are a few interesting horses in here, including some Triple Crown nominees. One of those is Flowing River, making his second career start for Tony Dutrow. He was visually unimpressive in his debut, chasing the pace while racing wide and fading. However, he ran a Brisnet speed rating of 81 that day, which is very competitive with his main rivals. Furthermore, he competed in an open maiden special weight race last out, and now drops to New York-bred competition. His recent workouts have been very solid, suggesting some improvement in his second career outing. If he does improve further, he's going to be tough to beat.

Strategy on a $10 Budget

$5 to win on 8

$5 exacta: 8 with 7

Strategy on a $25 Budget

$15 to win on 8

$10 exacta: 8 with 7

Strategy on a $50 Budget

$26 to win on 8

$12 exacta: 8 with 7, 13 ($24 total)

Aqueduct, Race 9, $100,000 Cicada Stakes, post time 5:32 p.m. ET

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#2 Sweet Solare: The Saturday feature at Aqueduct may have only six horses, but it's about as competitive of a six-horse field as you'll ever see. Just about all of these 3-year-old fillies have a shot to win. I'll take a chance with the longest shot on the morning line, Sweet Solare. After a decent third-place finish in her debut, she improved sharply second time out with a professional two-length win on Feb. 25. She battled on the pace on the inside and drew off to a two-length win, with a Brisnet rating of 90. That represents an 11-point improvement from her debut and is one of the best last-out figures in the race. She won that race on a sloppy track and, with rain in the forecast, she's very likely to race on another wet track on Saturday. That would boost her chances in a big way at a good price.

Strategy on a $10 Budget

$6 to win on 2

$4 exacta: 2 with 4

Strategy on a $25 Budget

$13 to win on 2

$6 exacta: 2 with 4, 5 ($12 total)

Strategy on a $50 Budget

$24 to win on 2

$13 exacta: 2 with 4, 5 ($26 total)

Year-To-Date Statistics

21 starts: 6 wins, 4 seconds, 4 thirds

$10 Budget Plays: $210 bet, $286.20 returned

$25 Budget Plays: $525 bet, $840.45 returned

$50 Budget Plays: $1,050 bet, $1,663.14 returned