Litfin: Pick three plays at Saratoga for Thursday, Aug. 28

Call me crazy, but the linchpin of a rolling pick three play through the middle portion of Thursday’s card at Saratoga is Grandpa Len, a 5-year-old gelding who has managed to compile a record of 1-4-5 through 21 starts, yet appears to be set up for a peak performance in race 6.

Grandpa Len’s only win was delivered at Saratoga in 2012 at the same distance of 1 1/8 miles that he will run Thursday, and he recorded what was then a lifetime Beyer Figure top of 79, while lighting up the tote board at a $46 mutuel.

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Following a layoff of more than a year, Grandpa Len returned on the grass at Belmont in late June, and ran evenly to finish fourth behind his uncoupled stablemate Ocala Jim. Off that single prep, he ran in the meet opener here July 18 and finished a pace-pressing third, matching his lifetime Beyer top of 81. He was back less than two weeks later in a muddy off-the-turf sprint, and found seven furlongs a bit too short while second best to I’m Wide Awake. Wide Awake returned last week and was beaten a nose while doubled in claiming price to $50,000.

Stretching back out and dropping to $16,000, it’s “all systems go” for Grandpa Len, who is only a lukewarm 5-2 choice on the morning line.

So the plan is to try and leverage Grandpa Len in a trio of pick three sequences on races 4-5-6, 5-6-7, and 6-7-8.

Thoughts on the surrounding races:

^{Race 4} - I was originally planning to leave out Writingonthewall, a 9-year-old who has never won past a mile and 70 yards on dirt, but the scratches of Goodtolook and Fiona’s Hero removed considerable early pace pressure from the equation. I will take one ticket using the five that are left, and another using just The Brothers Rap and the improving Onecats Chance.

^{Race 5} – Not a whole lot to go on with the major contenders in the With Anticipation, where Designed for War, International Star, Startup Nation, and Strong Coffee figure close based on their maiden wins on grass. I will use that quartet in equal strength.

^{Race 7} – Treading lightly on the 5-6-7 sequence, and will get more involved on 6-7-8 so as to sneak a peek at double prices to see how they are betting this turf route for 2-year-old New York-bred maiden fillies.

Battle Axe, Momma Giovanna, Moonlight Joy, and Smilingsundae are the only ones to have run on grass, and none of them busted any stopwatches, so any or all among first-time starters Jadam, Krista’s Persona, and Summersault will be on the 6-7-8 ticket if they are attracting attention in the double pool on 6-7.

^{Rae 8} – This one-mile turf claimer is a spread race for me, but I will have some extra tickets using Edie, Indian Starlight, and Scenario Analysis.