Trainer Andy Mathis saddles Katsfashion (#5, ML 6-1) in Wednesday's eighth race at Del Mar, a one-mile maiden claimer. Since Jan., 1, 2014, Mathis is winning at a 27 percent clip in maiden claiming races, for a return on investment of $4.29. Check out the Positive ROI report as part of DRF Plus. Sign up for DRF Plus here.
I’m willing to go all in on back-to-back singles in trying to take down the early pick five Thursday: ROY H (2) in Race 3 and GRAVITY FORCE (11) in Race 4.
Andy Po Po (#2, ML 6-1) returns in Wednesday's seventh race at Indiana Grand, a 1 1/16-mile allowance on turf. It will be his first start since finishing third by 1 3/4 lengths in an allowance June 12 at Indiana Grand. The first-, fourth-, sixth-, and seventh-place finishers from that race came back to win their next starts. Get the Key Race report as part of DRF Plus. Sign up for DRF Plus here.
Week 2 at Del Mar opens with a very contentious card, and I will be looking at different types of races to try to take advantage of the opportunities.
A week and a day after Del Mar opens in Southern California, Saratoga kicks off its meet in upstate New York. Saratoga has always been the place that top trainers take their best horses for the summer, at least on the East Coast, and in recent years the meet has been dominated by two trainers: Todd Pletcher and Chad Brown. Together, the pair has won nearly 300 races there in the past five years, with Pletcher generally excelling on dirt and Brown ruling the grass.
Brad Free's horses to watch at Del Mar for the week of July 21.
Dave Litfin's horses to watch exiting the Belmont Park meet, for the week of July 21.
Gierkink: Woodbine Horses to Watch for the week of July 20
Trip Notes for July 18-19: Delaware Handicap, Indiana Derby, Eddie Read, and more by Michael Hammersly.
With apologies to Steve Crist, who used to write this sort of column annually, here are 10 things I would love to see at this Saratoga meet, which opens Friday (yay!).
