King: Much to like about trio of 3-1 shots at Saratoga

Like most everyone else, I can’t wait to watch American Pharoah in Saturday’s Travers Stakes at Saratoga. It’s just not a race I’m eager to bet on.

No worries, though. With 12 other races on the card, including five Grade 1 stakes, there is no shortage of other spots on which to wager. Three horses in these Grade 1 events caught my eye, and taking them in the day’s sequence of races, here they are:

◗ Personal Ensign: Sheer Drama

Sheer Drama comes off a two-length victory in the Grade 1 Delaware Oaks, is the leading money earner in this field, and has consistently run Beyer Speed Figures in the mid- to upper 90s since being stretched out to two turns in 2015. All that, and she’s not the favorite.

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Instead, she’s the third choice, due largely to the reputations of Stopchargingmaria and Untapable. Indeed, they are top fillies, with Untapable being a champion and a Breeders’ Cup Distaff winner and Stopchargingmaria a Saratoga-loving multiple Grade 1 winner.

But on recent form, I don’t think their 2015 accomplishments compare with those of Sheer Drama. Stopchargingmaria’s two victories this year came in Grade 3 races, and Untapable has seemed a cut below her top form.

Beyond the current-form appeal of Sheer Drama, I am further encouraged by how she performed in prior starts over this track. She has a win and a second in two local races, neither of which came this year, when she obviously has taken her game to new heights.

At 3-1 on the morning line and unlikely to dip below 5-2, she is the play of the race.

◗ Ballerina: Dame Dorothy

A race later in the Ballerina, I like another 3-1 shot in Dame Dorothy, who should sit a perfect outside stalking trip going her best distance of seven furlongs.

The primary speed horses, La Verdad and Merry Meadow, are drawn to her inside in posts 2 and 3, and from those starting positions, they figure to tussle early. Neither can afford to let the other get away, or so it would seem.

Both are very fast fillies but seemingly better suited to races shorter than seven furlongs.

That’s not the case with Dame Dorothy, who is perfect in four races at the distance. Two of those four wins also came in back-to-back Grade 1 races leading into this race.

As for her not racing since winning the Bed o’ Roses at Belmont on June 20, I view that as a non-issue. She runs well with spacing between starts, and that’s the modus operandi of her trainer, Todd Pletcher, anyway.

◗ King’s Bishop: Holy Boss

Much like Dame Dorothy, Holy Boss figures to carve out a favorable outside stalking trip in the King’s Bishop, which tilts the scales in his favor.

This race, as usual, is loaded with pace, but Holy Boss is a versatile-enough horse with tactical pace that he doesn’t have to get caught up in it. He puts himself in position by regularly breaking well and then settles comfortably before being asked in the stretch.

Victories preceding this race in the Chick Lang and Amsterdam stakes were won in that fashion, and the wins earned him Beyers of 100 and 102.

Granted, he is untested going seven furlongs, but he handled the 6 1/2-furlong distance of the Amsterdam over the Saratoga surface without difficulty.

I’m expecting Grand Bili and Competitive Edge to come out and contest the lead from the inside and Runhappy to get involved on the outside, and if Holy Boss breaks well, he should settle in the second tier right behind them.