Fornatale: How I'll play Saratoga on Monday, Sept. 3, 2018

And then there was one.

With just one day left in the 2017 Saratoga meeting, perhaps the last we’ll see in the six-day, 6 1/2-week era, it’s time to make a final stand. I always say, if you want to see horseplayers cry, roll by the paddock bar around 6:15 p.m.

One person you won’t see there is me. With the 90-degree weather forecast and the general difficulty of the meet, I’ll be back in my air-conditioned office in Brooklyn (aka the Brooklyn Bunker) by then.

:: Wager on racing at Saratoga with DRF Bets

But I’ll still be playing, looking to go runner-runner to close it all out. My final bet(s) of the meet will come in the two graded stakes on today’s card, the Bernard Baruch and the Hopeful.

My records tell me that in an alternative reality, in which there is no horse named Voodoo Song and no trainer named Chad Brown (no offense meant to Chad Brown, I just can’t get his horses right), I might have actually posted impressive winning results the last two seasons at Saratoga.

When it comes to Voodoo Song at least, I’ve learned my lesson. The most impressive Saratoga horse for course since Fourstardave himself, Voodoo Song looks loose here, again on a turf course he should appreciate even more than the one he ran on last time. Let others make clever cases for the other logicals here, I’ll single Voodoo Song and move on. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. Plus, if that goes wrong I can come back with a win bet in the Hopeful.

As Mucho powered down the stretch in his maiden win on Aug. 4, I said aloud, “There’s your Hopeful winner.” Subsequent 2-year-old performances have done nothing to change my mind about that. It was a visually arresting performance and the figure was somewhat franked when the fourth-place horse came back to run the same figure (granted on turf) in his next start. In the hands of Bill Mott, I expect this bay colt to keep improving.

THE BETS

Race 9: Cold double #1-#7

Race 10: Hopefully ride out the double, if not, come back with win money on #7 Mucho.

Not the most creative of plays, but sometimes the best way to be a wiseguy is to know when not to be a wiseguy.

Cue “Summer Wind” . . .and the water works.