King: Low multirace takeout makes Sam Houston appealing
Stakes-geared horseplayers have no shortage of options Saturday afternoon, with Gulfstream, Fair Grounds, and Laurel all running multiple stakes. But when nighttime comes, my attention will be focused on the simulcast feed from Sam Houston Race Park.
Though lacking a stakes and running exclusively claimers and maidens, Sam Houston is an appealing track on which to wager due to its bettor-friendly takeout on multirace wagers. There, the takeout is only 12 percent on daily doubles, pick threes, pick fours, and on the pick five.
That’s but a fraction of what other tracks charge, where the norm for such wagers is typically around 20 percent to 26 percent. Sometimes tracks will lower their takeout for one particular wager or two, usually for a difficult wager to hit like a pick five, but no track consistently offers so many low-takeout multirace bets as Sam Houston, according to the Horseplayers Association of North America.
Betting Sam Houston still comes with some drawbacks. The betting pools are relatively small, and handicapping can be tricky early in the meet – with horses converging from different circuits and with many horses returning from layoffs after a gap in the racing circuit from when Retama Park closes in the fall until Sam Houston opens in the winter.
Still, what I like about it is that even after a losing bet, you can just regroup with the next multirace exotics bet and know you are still getting value.
So, with this being opening week for Sam Houston, here’s a quick look at the Saturday evening card (first post 6:15 Central) and the horses I see as contenders. Higher-percentage plays are listed as ‘A’ runners, while backup horses fall in the ‘B’ category. By using this ranking system, horses can easily be plugged into DRF’s TicketMaker program.
Race 1: I will use two in the opener, both ‘A’ horses with Makoshika (4) and Yukonrun (2) – both of whom are fit after racing a month ago at Remington Park. Of the two, I slightly prefer Makoshika, who possesses more speed.
Race 2: Nutty Fudge is the lone ‘A,’ having raced last month, but I will back him up with ‘B’ horses Queen’s Bling (2) and Mapleton (1), both of whom haven’t raced since October. All three are capable.
Race 3: Downtowncarolbrown (1) is the lone ‘A’ horse in the first grass race of the night, having good form and a favorable ground-saving post. But I feel the need to spread with backups, using three ‘B’ horses in Passion Talk (5), Witt’s Charm (3), and Etasong (2).
Race 4: As wretched as this maiden claimer is, I have no interest in betting it.
Race 5: David R. (6) looks good enough to run these down if he’s fit off a three-month hiatus and is the lone ‘A.’ Given his time away, I will back him up with ‘B’ plays Big Time Money (10) and Waveland Luke Joe (2).
Race 6: Class-dropping Special Rockstar (5) has move-up potential in her third start of her form cycle and is an ‘A.’ I also will try two ‘B’ horses in Favorite Child (2) and L’argour (3), with Favorite Child also moving in with easier and L’argour possessing early speed.
Race 7: Jade Effort (6) is a standout in this Texas-bred maiden. Single her.
Race 8: Backdoc (6) and Pure Pegasus (3) rate as an ‘A’ and a ‘B.’ Both come off recent starts at Delta Downs, with Backdoc in the better form of the two.
Race 9: Debutante Belle (1A) is the class of this $15,000 nonwinners-of-two claimer on grass and is an ‘A’ selection, backed up by Shaylee Rules (2) and Get Tied On (9), who both have run reasonably well on turf and rate as ‘B’ horses.
Race 10: I will close out the card with two ‘A’ horses: Halifax Flyer (7) and Flashingfor Morluc (6), although with them being unraced since October at Retama, fitness is a question mark for both. For that reason, I’ll toss in Special Tree (4) as a ‘B’ horse given a recent but poor start and because of his 6-for-12 record at Sam Houston.
General strategy: Because many of the fields Saturday evening at Sam Houston are short, I don’t recommend diving deep with too many tickets. Although the takeout is kind, it is not so favorable that betting an abundance of combinations is sound strategy.