US racing tips: Shane Ketteridge provides two selections at Oaklawn Park on Saturday

Jaxon Traveler
9.56 Oaklawn Park
1pt win

Wet Paint
11.46 Oaklawn Park
1pt win

Steven Asmussen has won five of the last eleven runnings of the Grade 3 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap, including the last two with Jackie’s Warrior and Skelly, and the trainer has a great chance of making it three in a row with Jaxon Traveler.

Asmussen saddles three in this 6f contest for older horses with Skelly looking to defend his crown, but Jaxon Traveler catches the eye coming into this in red-hot form.

Flavien Prat's mount has won three of his last four starts, all of which have been stakes events, and he showed a tenacious attitude to dig in when winning by a nose in a Grade 3 over course and distance last month. A repeat of that performance will see him go close.

The Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap is a feather in the cap for any female thoroughbred that visits the winners' circle, and this year’s renewal can go to the Brad Cox-trained Wet Paint, who was last seen finishing down the field in the Breeders' Cup Distaff at Santa Anita.

The Godolphin-owned daughter of Blame was a big eyecatcher when keeping on well for fourth in the Kentucky Oaks last May, which set her up for a big second half of the season.

She made her Grade 1 breakthrough when defeating Sacred Wish by a neck in the American Oaks at Saratoga, which preceded a respectable second in the Alabama Stakes at the same course.

However, she was disappointing when recording an eighth-placed finish behind the best Fillies and Mares in America in the Breeders’ Cup, but the general feeling is that she is much better than that so don't write her off just yet.

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