Illman: How I'll play Saratoga for Sunday, Aug. 28
Sunday's card at Saratoga represents the calm after the Travers Saturday stakes storm, but it's a solid afternoon of racing featuring the $100,000 Smart N Fancy Stakes and a couple of interesting maiden special weights for 2-year-olds. Let's take a look.
Race 10 - Smart N Fancy Stakes
ANIMAL APPEAL (10) appears the horse to beat following two runaway turf sprint victories, but it must be noted that he was loose on the lead against NY-bred competitors both times, and may have more difficulty establishing a clear early advantage against these tougher open foes.
Instead, I'll try SANCTIFICA (1), a 5-year-old mare that also enters the Smart N Fancy off two consecutive wins. Like Animal Appeal, she is fast from the gate, but I believe that Sanctifica is a bit more tactical. If someone else wants the lead, I believe that she'll rate successfully under Eric Cancel.
The main worry is that the field that Sanctifica handled over course and distance last month was simply dreadful, and she'll likely receive a strong class quiz in this spot. I'll play her mildly to win at 5-1 odds or greater and will use her in single- and multi-race exotics with Animal Appeal.
Race 7 - Maiden Special Weight
It will be interesting to see how the public attacks this race, but don't be surprised if MALIBU BONNIE (1) can run a little bit for Todd Pletcher. A $320,000 weanling that resold for $575,000 last year, Malibu Bonnie is by solid debut stallion Malibu Moon, and is the first foal out of a half-sister to Grade 1 synthetic stakes-winning router Crisp. Also, Pletcher is 6 for 15 (40%) with a $2.60 ROI at this meet with juvenile debut runners in maiden special weight dirt sprints.
I'll play Malibu Bonnie at 5-2 odds or greater and will use her in exotics with SIMPLYLUCKY (7), a daughter of fantastic debut stallion Street Boss going out for underrated trainer Jimmy Ryerson, and Chad Brown-trained first-time starter REALLY (9).
Race 6 - Maiden Special Weight
Bill Mott's second-time starters often improve by leaps and bounds from their debut appearances, but DANNY'S RUSH (11) might need only a slight forward move to win the sixth race, a two-turn turf event for babies. The NY-bred took minor tote action for his debut and attempted to rally through some traffic in upper stretch of that sprint event. That race was dominated by front-runners, and the gate-to-wire winner returned to finish third in the $100,000 Skidmore Stakes.
That race was an excellent starting point for a colt that is bred to run all day. He'll get a chance to stretch out and adds Lasix. I'll play him to Win at 5-1 or greater and will use him with HAVE ANOTHER (9), a first-time starter that has been working with older horses, and OISEAU DE GUERRE (8), a Chad Brown-production with a good-looking work tab.
Good luck!