Papa Dudes Free Picks for Iowa Festival of Racing Day 2

It’s day 2 of the Iowa Festival of Racing and the 7 race thoroughbred card is a good one. There are 3 stakes races, so let’s get started and see if we can make them pay off. We also have Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals to make a prediction on as well.

Race 4: Starter Allowance

My Picks: 4,3,5 In this race every horse looked very similar in their skill and past performances so I’ll pass this one up.

No Bet

Race 5: Claiming

My Picks: 6,1,4 I think this race comes down to the two Karl Broberg horses #1 Domikate and #6 Shweet Persuasion. They both are very similar and I settled on #6 Shweet Persuasion because of the jockey selection and the 7-2 morning line odds.

The Bet: $10 to Win on #6

Race 6: Allowance

My Picks: 4,3,2 In this race I really didn’t like the two favorites that much and nothing else looked any better.

No Bet

Race 7: Iowa Distaff Stakes

My Picks: 1,4,3 This looks like a 2-horse race between the two favorites. Brad Cox ships in with #4 Josie. She has three starts this year, winning an allowance at Oaklawn and also at Indiana Grand. In between those two races was a bad 6th at Oaklawn. Steve Asmussen sends out #1 Himiko, who will be the slight favorite. She has 2 starts in 2021. She finished 3rd in an allowance at Santa Anita, and then in her last start she won a similar race at Churchill.

The Bet: $10 to Win on #1

Race 8: Iowa Sprint Stakes

My Picks: 1,6,3 My choice in this race is #1 Special Reserve trained by Mike Maker, who has been on a roll and is coming off a Maryland Sprint (G3) win back in May. He needs to get on or near the lead and if he does he could be tough to catch.

The Bet: $20 to Win on #1

Race 9: Saylorville Stakes

My Picks: 5,1,3 I’m going with #5 Frank’s Rockette who looks much the best in this one. She has won 6 out of her last 10 starts and should be an easy winner. The problem of course is she will probably go off at 1-5.

The Bet: $20 to Win on #5

Race 10: Allowance

My Picks: 4,7,6 This is a tough one to figure out for me and I don’t really like any of them enough to spend any money on them.

No Bet

Papa Dudes NBA Prediction

Milwaukee at Atlanta

It is almost impossible to make a prediction for Game 6 on Saturday night as there are too many variables that are a mystery and we may not know till tipoff. Both teams have a superstar who may or may not play and any discussion of this game depends on who plays and who doesn’t, or one plays and the other doesn’t, or they both play. And as I write this, I just don’t know.

So, of the two stars, it would be a decent guess to think that Trae Young of the Hawks would have the better chance to play. That analogy is based on the fact that he actually took a few shots before Game 5 and Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Bucks’ star, did not take part in any on-court activities. If that happens, then the Hawks would have the upper hand in this game. And, if Giannis plays and Young doesn’t then I think Milwaukee wins.

Now let’s assume that both don’t play and base a prediction on that scenario. Atlanta needs Trae Young a lot more than the Bucks need Giannis because everything in there offensive scheme flows through Young. He touches the ball every possession of every game and that makes him so valuable to everything they want to do on offense. He is irreplaceable to the Hawks. Milwaukee is a better overall team than Atlanta and they can compensate more for the loss of Giannis than the Hawks can in regards to Trae. Can Atlanta win in this situation? Absolutely they can. Will they? I’m betting no.

The final scenario is they both heal and are able to play. Again, as said before, Milwaukee is the better team. The Hawks would need Young to go off for about 45 points in order to win in my opinion which he very well might do. I’m going Bucks in this example also.

So, as I write this on Friday night Atlanta is a 2.5 point favorite.

My Pick: Milwaukee +2.5