DRF's Horse Racing Playbook for Thursday, August 13, 2020
Daily Racing Form has served as the most trusted source of news and information about the sport since 1894, and moving forward we have decided to provide a free daily playbook – something that both hardcore horseplayers and casual observers can reference to get informed of each day’s action.
12:00 GP 1st Lots of guesswork in the Thursday opener for 2yo mdn.-claiming fillies, what with a mix of first-timers and a few who disappointed badly in scant attempts; will give TANTALIZING GAL (#4, 4-1) the benefit of the doubt off the awful debut in which she had trouble right out of the gate; today’s a brand new day. – Marty McGee
1:30 GP 4th Mighty slim pickins here in this bottom-level maiden-claimer, which helps to explain the Team Schickedanz color-bearer NEW YORK COMMANDER (#1, 5-1) receiving top billing here. Can just follow them around while saving all the ground from her rail post; note the respectable 2-back try over dirt and the allure of the turf-to-dirt angle here. – Marty McGee
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2:29 SAR 4th BLOOD MOON (#2, 3-1) went turf to dirt for Gargan at this level last time and ran a winning race while clearing on a solid pace and then dueling with favored The Rock Says all through the stretch, before weakening late; threat if he can get more comfortable early this time. – Mike Beer
3:06 GP 7th Giving LA INCONDICIONAL (#10, 4-1) a big chance to redeem as a beaten odds-on favorite at this same level; no apparent mishap in latest, but reverting to some of her preceding efforts would do; been a good move over from Tampa to Camacho. – Marty McGee
3:10 LRL 6th Half of ROYAL CRUSADER’s (#1, 9-2) wins have come in route-to-sprint fashion, and he’ll attempt to repeat that pattern after an odd trip at Delaware. After bobbling a bit at the start, he recovered to press a 40 to 1 shot along the inside. Wasn’t ridden aggressively and lost ground while in between horses on the turn, but showed a bit of run when produced outside the stretch. There won’t be much pace for him to attack, so it’s imperative for the rider to stay within hailing range early. – Dan Illman
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4:46 SAR 8th BATTALION (#5, 6-1) has improved from race to race for Mott and exits a game run for 2nd in this condition early in the meet after having to steady to the back of that field early; nice fit here and can improve again with a better trip. – Mike Beer
6:10 WO 6th SPEEDY BOLT (#1, 6-1) is a DRF Best Bet (Ron Gierkink).
6:43 WO 7th CIRCLE OF FRIENDS (#3, 8-1) mounted a five-wide rally over an inside-favoring track to finish a close second when dropping back down to this N2X class from a G3 stakes July 23. He might be ready to put it all together on the cutback from 6 ½ to 5 ½ furlongs. – Ron Gierkink
7:15 WO 8th MISS MATILDA (#4, 6-1) stalked three-wide over inside-favoring track en route to a lapped-on second in a similar spot three weeks ago. The 6yo may finally have found a field of $10K maidens that she can handle here. – Ron Gierkink