Wednesday TimeformUS Highlight Horse: Friend of Liberty lands in a more realistic spot

Aqueduct | Race 3 | Post Time 1:18 p.m. (ET) | Go to the TimeformUS PPs

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There’s little not to like about Littlemissbusiness (#2). She’s hardly the most talented horse you will see running at this level, but she shows up with a solid performance just about every time she’s led over from the paddock. While she’s had trouble breaking through this allowance condition during the past year, it looks like she’s finally found a field that she can handle. She’s the horse to beat, but there are at least two interesting alternatives.

The one that figures to go off at a shorter price is Team of Teams (#4), who makes her dirt debut after showing some real talent on turf earlier this year. She’s bred to handle this surface, and her speed makes her dangerous.

However, I prefer the runner posted to her outside, FRIEND OF LIBERTY (#5).

This was a shrewd claim by some savvy connections in the middle of the Saratoga meet. This three-year-old filly showed promise early this year before going off form, but showed that she was heading back in the right direction in August. They set their sights a bit too high in their first start off the claim, tackling some of the best filly and mare sprinters in the country in the Gallant Bloom. We’ve seen a few also-rans return out of that race to improve, and it’s not as if she needs to progress that much to beat the favorite.

THE PLAY

Win: 5

Exacta key box: 5 with 2, 3, 4

Trifecta: 5 with 2, 4 with 1, 2, 3, 4