Retama Park Picks & Predictions — June 25, 2026
It's a hot one in San Antonio — clear skies and 89°F at Retama Park — but the horses don't seem to mind. Eight races are on the board today, all run on dirt and all short, sharp quarter-horse sprints ranging from 330 yards to 440 yards. If you like speed, you came to the right place.
The card builds nicely from a pair of openers for maiden and claiming stock all the way up to three Stakes races in the back half. That Stakes trio — Races 6, 7, and 8 — is where the real intrigue lives today, and our TrackWiz ratings have some clear opinions about who's ready to fire.
The heat can play a role in late-card races, so keep an eye on how the early runners handle the conditions. A tiring track in the afternoon isn't uncommon when temps push into the upper 80s, and that's a factor we've baked into today's analysis.
Best Bets
Race 1
Claiming · 400 yd · Dirt
Two horses dominate the TrackWiz ratings by a wide margin in this 400-yard claimer, setting up a likely battle at the top while the rest of the field scrambles for crumbs.
Real Deal Lajolla lands at the top of our ratings with an 87.08 score and carries an 11% career win rate — solid numbers for a claiming sprinter at this level. Angel A. Fierro gets the call in the irons for trainer Martin Rodriguez, a barn that also saddles the second pick, suggesting genuine stable confidence in this runner. In a 400-yard dash there's almost no margin for error, and Real Deal Lajolla's edge in our TrackWiz model makes the 3/1 morning line look fair without being generous.
Special Corona Red checks in at a nearly identical 87.05 TrackWiz rating to the top pick, making this essentially a dead-heat between stablemates at the top of the form. The 5/2 morning line as the race favorite is understandable given trainer Martin Rodriguez double-dips here, but the lower career win rate of 4% does temper enthusiasm for backing her straight up to win. She's absolutely worth including underneath in exactas and trifectas given the rating proximity.
Pick N Roll is the third-best rated horse in the field at 66.85 — a notable drop-off from the top two, but still comfortably clear of the rest. Ruben Delarosa Jr. handles the riding duties for trainer Ramiro Barajas Villarreal, and the 10% career win rate shows this horse knows how to hit the board. At 9/2 on the morning line, Pick N Roll represents solid trifecta fill value if the top duo dominates as expected.
Race 2
Maiden · 440 yd · Dirt
A wide-open maiden field at 440 yards, but Going for Gold separates himself from the pack with a TrackWiz rating nearly 12 points clear of the next rival — maiden chaos with a clear top figure.
Going for Gold posts the field's best TrackWiz rating at 87.81 and comes in at a sensible 5/2 morning line under jockey Noe Villatoro for trainer Adan Guzman. In a maiden sprint, first-time evaluation can be tricky, but when a horse grades this far above the field on our model, that separation is hard to ignore. The 440-yard trip gives horses with natural speed and stride efficiency an advantage, and Going for Gold's profile suggests he fits that mold perfectly.
Takemtothastation rates second in the field at 75.22 and is the 3/1 morning-line second choice, suggesting public handicappers are aligned with our model here. Diego Contreras takes the mount for trainer Rodolfo Sanchez, and while all runners are maiden-without-a-win, this horse's rating places him solidly in the mix for a piece. He's a natural underneath horse in exactas if Going for Gold fires as expected.
Valiant Lights checks in at 69.28 on the TrackWiz scale — third-best in a ten-horse field — and gets Benjamin Mendez Jr. up for trainer Marla Dayana Vargas at 5/1. In a maiden race this spread out, the third-best figure often gets overlooked at the windows, creating solid value for trifecta play. The 5/1 price is workable if you're building tickets around the top two choices.
Race 3
Maiden · 350 yd · Dirt
The tightest ratings cluster of the early card — six horses within 15 points of each other in this 350-yard maiden, making this a genuine pick-em sprint where post position and a clean break could decide everything.
One Pyc Fancy edges to the top of our TrackWiz model at 56.67 and draws the morning-line favoritism at 3/1 under jockey Raul Padilla Hernandez Jr. for trainer Marc E. Jungers. In a race this compressed at the top, the slight ratings advantage is meaningful, and Padilla Hernandez Jr. is one of the more active jockeys on this Retama card, suggesting he knows this surface well. At 350 yards, every tenth of a second counts — a clean gate break could make this a wire-to-wire score.
Cartels Storm Cat rates just a tick below at 55.83 and is listed at 7/2 on the morning line for trainer Shae L. Cox with Claudio Ponce Aguilar aboard. The separation between the top three picks is razor-thin, which is exactly why Cartels Storm Cat makes sense to include in exacta coverage — if the favorite stumbles out of the gate, this one is right there to inherit the lead. In maiden 350-yard dashes, connections matter as much as raw figures.
Vp Cowboy Heart rounds out our picks at 55.00 — only 1.67 points off the top of the field — and Nestor Duran gets the mount for trainer Zackery N. Rios at 4/1. This is essentially a three-horse heat at the top, and all three deserve trifecta consideration at generous enough prices. Cowboy Heart's 4/1 morning line gives you fair value for a horse that our model can't separate meaningfully from the top two.
We're giving every reader a look at Races 1 through 3 today, and there's genuine value to be found right out of the gate. Real Deal Lajolla opens the card as our top pick at 3/1 morning line in the 400-yard claimer — a solid TrackWiz rating of 87.08 makes that price look generous. In Race 2, Going for Gold earns the highest free-race rating on the card at 87.81 and goes postward at 5/2 in the 440-yard maiden — that's the kind of number that makes us comfortable leaning in. Race 3 is the most wide-open of the free trio, with One Pyc Fancy on top but a softer 56.67 rating flagging this as a competitive, harder-to-solve maiden sprint — tread carefully and use exotics for coverage.
The common thread across the early races: these short dirt sprints at Retama reward horses with clean gate manners and early burst. In this heat, there's little margin for a stumbled break or a wide trip. Position out of the gate is everything.
Full Card Analysis
Premium Content
Get the Full Card Analysis
Unlock expert picks for every race, detailed speed figures, trainer angles, and our SmartBet recommendations.
Eight fast, furious dirt sprints under a blazing Texas sun — Retama Park is serving up a quality Thursday card. Going for Gold is our free-race standout, Feenom is the horse we most want on our side all day, and the Stakes triple in the back half is loaded with betting angles. Get the complete picture — pace projections, exotic tickets, and every pick — with a TrackWiz Premium subscription at /pricing. Good luck out there.