Trouble has seemed to follow Conquest Boogaloo in each of his last three starts, and he’ll be looking for a clean trip Tuesday in the $500,000 Prince of Wales Stakes at Fort Erie, the second jewel of the Canadian Triple Crown over 1 3/16 miles on dirt.
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).
A daily video report from Saratoga, hosted by Mike Welsch.
Big John B and Rafael Bejarano were stuck on the rail behind the front-runners at the end of the backstretch in Friday’s $100,000 Cougar II Handicap at Del Mar. It turned out to be an ideal position.
Really interesting card nearly from start to finish, with an apparently well-matched group of 2-year-olds in the Sanford and an interesting edition of the Grade 1 Diana. Personally, I’d lay more horses at short odds on this card than play at longer prices, but that’s not an option in North American parimutuel wagering, and so, onward.
The tornado that the National Weather Service flashed a warning about never came, so Saratoga’s 147th meet was able to storm out of the starting gates in a major way Friday.
With Lady Eli fighting the good fight against laminitis at Belmont Park, trainer Chad Brown will need one of his plethora of other 3-year-old fillies to step up and fill those shoes for the major races in the division later this year.
DRF handicapper Dave Litfin provides insight into the late pick four on Saturday's card at Saratoga.
Jeremey Day's analysis of the Sunday 7/26 card at Balmoral Park.
