Beer: Saratoga pick three for Saturday, July 23

Race 6 is a 2-year-old maiden special weight race with a full field of 10. There are, as always at Saratoga, some interesting first-time starters entered, including Any Questions, a $300,000 half-brother to Runhappy. Still, I prefer to rely on horses with experience in these races, and Pretty Boy Flash is the horse I will lean on.

He was not sharp from the gate in his Churchill Downs debut, which led to his being steadied back and outrun in the early stages. He never made an impact on that field, but he appeared to be picking up with a run once moved off the rail in the very late stages, and he goes for a trainer who has had much success with maidens making their second career start. He’s the main play in the race and the one to take coverage with in the upcoming legs.

Conquest Reformo and Royal Copy are the others with a prior race, and Chad Brown’s Forge looks like a dangerous first-time starter.

Race 7 is a tough turf route for older allowance horses. Trips may go a long way in deciding who comes out on top, and I’m hoping that Ascend can work out a good one. He is capable of racing within range of the early pace and has run very well in his last two starts while coming up just short, including that last one when trying to close into a walking pace.

Race 8 is another tough allowance on the grass, this one for 3-year-olds. Brown’s Catapult is the horse to beat. He has some learning to do, and there remains the possibility that he will still need more experience before putting it all together, but there seems little doubt that he is a talent. He was very impressive in running over the eventual multiple stakes winner Giant Run in his lone start as a 2-year-old with a Beyer Speed Figure of 93, and he came back to race greenly when wired in the Transylvania Stakes in his only start this year.

I think he is good, and the horse to beat, but I also want to use Hockey School in this race. His best effort came two back on yielding ground, but I don’t think the surface moved him up. Rather, I think he benefitted from aggressive tactics that day after getting himself into trouble from off the pace in his previous turf starts. He ran very well when middle-moving and flattening out in a similar spot at Belmont last month, and he can get himself forwardly placed once again in this race.