With over a half a million just sitting there (and odds are some of that was yours to begin with) and the prospect of a lot more money piled on for Wednesday’s big carryover, there’s probably about a million and a half reasons to take a swing.
Trip Notes for July 25-26: Sanford, Diana, Bing Crosby, CCA Oaks, and more by Michael Hammersly.
Ron Gierkink's horses to watch at Woodbine for the week of July 26.
At a meet like Saratoga, where there are so many competitive races and everyone’s trying to win, experience has taught me that it is best not to split hairs between several closely matched horses. Instead, I take my cue from Steve Fierro’s fine book “The Four Quarters of Horse Investing” and simply construct betting lines where contenders get 79 to 81 percentage points (see the odds percentage table in the American Racing Manual), allowing about 20 percent or so for the random results that no amount of study could foresee.
This year’s 3-year-old filly division is in disarray, especially now that the brilliant grass star Lady Eli is sidelined while battling laminitis. The eight Grade 1 races in the division so far this year have been won by seven different fillies. Lovely Maria is the only dual winner (Ashland on April 4 and Kentucky Oaks on May 1), while one Grade 1 apiece has gone to Callback (Las Virgenes on Jan. 31), Stellar Wind (Santa Anita Oaks on April 4), Spanish Queen (American Oaks on May 30), Curalina (Acorn on June 6), Include Betty (Mother Goose on June 27), and Lady Eli (Belmont Oaks on July 4).
DRF handicapper Joe DeVivo provides a play three play on Monday's card at Saratoga.
DRF handicapper Peter Fornatale provides insight into a pick three play on Sunday's card at Saratoga.
(5) MASOCHISTIC looks pretty solid in the Grade 1 Bing Crosby, and I am going to single him and then hope for bigger prices in the next two legs of the pick three that starts on Race 6.
Saturday’s featured Diana Stakes at Saratoga is the first of 15 (17 if you count the steeplechases) Grade 1 races at the meet. May they all be such brain-teasers on paper.
Well, we tried utilizing a key horse last weekend as our linchpin for numerous multi-race and in-race wagers, but when the storms came, that race was washed off the turf, and our key horse scratched. A week later, however, there appears to be a similar opportunity, this time with ROCK ME BABY in the California Dreamin’ Handicap (race 8).
