Longshot of the Day: Race 5 at Horseshoe Indy

Track: Horseshoe Indianapolis

Race 5: $20K maiden claimer going 6 furlongs on dirt for 3+ Indiana-breds

Post Time: 4:14 PM ET

Horse: #2 Bella’s Charm (12/1 morning line) use as a win bet at 7/1 or higher.

Today’s fifth race at Horseshoe Indianapolis has a few candidates who could potentially upset at a nice price, but I ultimately landed on Bella’s Charm as my longshot selection. There are a few things that stand out about this three-year-old son of Charming Kitten as he is second-back from a nine-month layoff that took place from November 2024 to August 2025. Trainer Robert Cline dropped the horse into this level off the layoff and that day’s jockey JD Ramos got the horse to sit mid-pack, but he was never involved in the flow of the race and faded late. It was an effort you would expect off a long layoff as his conditioning was not necessarily up to snuff. Since that race, Cline put the horse through another workout at Belterra Park and should be in better conditioning for Tuesday. The field does not have an overwhelming favorite seeing as #4 Starspangledimage (2/1) is 0-11 and was a distance fifth the last time the horse dropped to this level. Meanwhile, Bella’s Charm is running for only the fourth time and has plenty of room to grow in his second start off the bench. Plus, he will run with Lasix for the second time on Tuesday as well. Jockey Fernando De La Cruz takes over the mount and look for him to get the horse more aggressively placed in the early going of the race.

Now, depending on if you want to take a smaller or larger swing, there are two other horses to consider in this race. #5 More Than A Dream (5/1) is your likely winner, in my opinion, as he is making his second start for trainer Randy Klopp and dropping in class from maiden special weight to maiden claiming company. Klopp is outstanding with those moves, but you will not get 5/1 on this horse as second choice, #3 Count the Cash (5/2) scratched, which means a lot of money is going to flow to More Than A Dream, so his final odds could be closer to 5/2 or 2/1. Another horse who is making his second start and dropping in class is #8 Gray V. (15/1) for trainer Tracey Winser. The horse showed some initial speed in debut despite having a tough start and then faded badly in the stretch. That performance tracks with the fact that the horse only had three official workouts leading up to debut, so getting a race and subsequent workout under his belt should improve conditioning. I also like horses that have early speed in maiden claiming races and at a big price, Gray V. might be worthy of consideration as an upset bid or a horse to use underneath as he could still fade late.