There are a host of riders who will miss some time here in the next few days for various reasons. Patrick Husbands is serving a suspension Friday, Saturday, and Wednesday. He has an exemption to ride Queen’s Plate winner Lexie Lou in Sunday’s $250,000 Wonder Where Stakes.
Though he has raced in longer races since arriving in the U.S., the feeling is Seek Again will have no trouble with the cutback to a mile on grass, the conditions of the Fourstardave.
If you specialize in dirt sprints, Thursday’s card is not for you because there are none to be found on the 10-race program that gets underway with the Mrs. Ogden Phipps Stakes over the jumps at 12:25 p.m.
How will I play today? I’ll try to beat the morning-line favorites in races 3 and 4.
DRF handicapper Dan Illman looks at Saratoga's juvenile races.
Not having strong opinions in the first five races – three are for inexperienced 2-year-olds, and the other pair are low-level claimers – my emphasis will be on playing two of the final three races on the eight-race card.
The rail is the worst place from which to begin a sprint, right? Not at this meet.
DRF handicapper Matt Bernier looks at Del Mar's races for juveniles.
Cat Feathers, who lit up the Saratoga tote board winning the Mrs. Ogden Phipps Stakes at 23-1 in 2012, will be a considerably shorter price as she attempts to win that 2 1/16-mile steeplechase event for the second time.
With contention running deep in the last two races on Del Mar’s Thursday card, multi-race gimmick players seem best served by taking a stand in the sixth race before using more combinations in the seventh and eighth races, the final two legs of the late pick three.
