Horse Racing Picks – Sat July 18, 2026 Del Mar | Turtle Sports Lundin Line
Horse racing picks and best bets for Sat, July 18, 2026 at Del Mar from Turtle Sports’ Lundin Line. Get expert analysis, free tips, and stakes-race insights to help you cash in on today’s card in sunny San Diego.
HORSE RACING
- Fink
Let’s keep Saturday rolling along as Turtle Sports’ coast‑to‑coast day continues! We’re headed back out west today to play the ponies at Del Mar Racetrack in San Diego, CA.
Yesterday we had a profitable day at this track despite a limited number of winners: 3 top picks and 4 of our top-two selections. Those top-pick winners produced a profit of $12, or an ROI of 60%. That’s much better than we did at Monmouth and helped us lock in an overall profitable day. We’re looking to keep the run going today and build on that success.
Today’s card features 11 total races, including two stakes, and will carry us right into dinnertime. The spotlight is on Race 8, the $300k San Diego Handicap—a 1 1/16‑mile route on the dirt and a Grade 2 stakes event. We’ll have a compact field of five after two scratches, but all eyes will be on the return of Journalism to the West Coast, where his path to last year’s Kentucky Derby runner-up finish began.
He dominated the West Coast trail to the Derby and came up just short to Sovereignty in both the Derby and the Belmont Stakes. However, without his nemesis in the Preakness, Journalism scored a decisive victory, becoming one of the few horses in recent memory to run all three legs of the Triple Crown despite not winning the Derby. He went on to capture the Haskell around this time last year, but his four-year-old campaign has been underwhelming so far—he’s still searching for his first win of the season and his first since that Haskell triumph a year ago.
Today’s weather is classic San Diego: highs in the mid‑70s and mostly sunny skies. We’ve had no rain in California for some time, so the track will be fast and the turf firm—perfect conditions for another exciting closeout to our coast‑to‑coast top-rated action!
Happy Saturday & National Tropical Fruit Day! 🥥🍍🥭
Need help picking winners? We've got you covered! Our (Always Free) Lundin Line's top picks and best bets are below. We use them to help narrow the field while putting our tickets together. The first post will be here soon, so don't be late -
It's time to get #InTheMoney! 💰💰💰
🏇Sat., July 18th, 2026 @ Del Mar
First Post @ 2:00 PDT (5:00 EDT)
⭑Best Bet(s)
🏇R8: 300K San Diego H. (G2)
1 1/16 Mi. on Dirt for 3 Yr. Olds & Up
🏇R9: 200K San Clemente H. (G2T)
1 Mile on Turf for Fillies, 3 Yr. Olds
Ⓢtakes Race(s)
July 18th - National Tropical Fruit Day! 🥥🥭
R1: 3-5-6
R2: 7-9-6-1
R3: 13(AE)-1-4-2-5
R4: 6-9-1-7
R5: 6-4-10-7
R6: 8-7-9-4
R7: 4-10-2-7
🏇R8Ⓢ: 5-2-6-4
🏇R9Ⓢ: 9-8-11-3
R10: 7-8-4-3
R11: 6⭑-5-3-9
🏇= Featured Race(s)