Sunday TimeformUS Highlight Horse: Boxed Wine due for better trip

Saratoga | Race 8 | Post Time 5:04 p.m. (ET)

Firsttimeinforever (#7) is the horse to beat again as she makes her fourth start on the NYRA circuit since shipping in from California. However, she’s starting to have the look of a money burner after losing her last 3 outings at odds of 2-1 or less. She has had some excuses along the way, such as when she got sawed off in traffic when attempting to rally two back. Then last time she made the first move to take over in a race that featured an honest pace before tiring. That distance is probably a tad too far for her, and she’ll appreciate the slight turnback here. I just don’t want to settle for another short price on her.

Roagna (#1) was in that same May 25 race in which Firsttimeinforever had such obvious trouble. While Roagna didn’t experience as much traffic, she didn’t have an ideal trip, chasing wide around the track. I still wish she would have shown more punch through the stretch, and I’m starting to wonder if she just beat a bad field on debut last fall.

Awesome Czech (#3) is a little more appealing as she makes her second start off a layoff. She was placed in some pretty tough open company spots in her last few starts, including when she just missed in the Tepin last year after setting a slow pace. She was no match for the winner last time in the Wild Applause with a good trip, but still was hardly disgraced against a tougher field. She fits well against this allowance field.

My top pick is Boxed Wine (#2), who had a different kind of trip in that June 23 affair. She was chasing a run-off early leader, doing so while never inside leading the main pack. That’s the kind of trip that can really drain a horse’s stamina, and it was her first time going 9 furlongs, so I want to forgive her for failing to finish in the late stages. Now she’s drawn well inside and should be able to get a better trip sitting in the pocket. She also ran better than it looks two back when getting shuffled back into the stretch before running on late.