Charles Town picks and horses to watch: May 5, 2023 * The Racing Biz

ANALYSIS

There’s a pretty good chance that morning line favorite #1 Unison (1-1) makes it three straight in this allowance contest. The Larry Curtis runner — he’s the owner, trainer, and breeder — has actually crossed the wire first in four straight but was DQed for impeding a rival in one of those. He has been ultra-impressive of late, winning his last two by a combined 9 1/2 lengths. That’s no small potatoes at the 4 1/2-furlong distance, and in this contest, he looks like the speed of the speed while having the advantage of breaking from the outside… Toss the last around two turns and #5 Settlement Date (8-1) doesn’t look bad at all. His one-turn tries against state-breds stack up just fine, and he’ll look to stalk and pounce… That last may have been better than it looked for #4 Drinkwiththestars (6-1). Another horse acted up in the gate, which seemed to spur this one to lose his cool a bit. He ran up close for a while but faded late, as often happens to horses that leave their race in the starters blocks… #6 Hopping Henry (3-1) has won only one of his last 20 starts, which makes it hard to get excited about the morning line odds, though that one win came three back. No question he fits with these…