Litfin: Saratoga pick three play for Sunday, July 20

Ultimate Empire finished first in both of his starts at Saratoga last year, and he is the horse-for-course angle play in race 8.

I also like the jockey switch. Ultimate Empire has never been worse than second in four starts with Javier Castellano.

Third, the blinkers come off following two recently unsuccessful tries on the lead downstate, which strongly suggests a return to the stalking tactics that have worked well for him before.

Surrounding races look competitive but manageable, so the plan is to make Ultimate Empire the linchpin of three separate pick three sequences (6-7-8; 7-8-9; 8-9-10) with the following horses, listed in order of preference:

Race 6: Lay It Down, Dreaming of Danny, Treasury Devil, Nineinthenine, Gourmet Dinner, Sleepless Knight

Race 7: Eternal Bull, Eighty Three, T Sizzle

Race 9: Crown Queen, Silky, Fizzy Pink, Sabouli, Kitten’s Queen

Race 10: Stopchargingmaria, Unbridled Forever