Wednesday TimeformUS Highlight Horse: Portage ready to step up and face winners
Saratoga | Race 6 | Post Time 4:00 p.m. (ET)
TimeformUS PPs are now available on drf.com. Go to shop.drf.com and use coupon code NYRATF23 to get one free TimeformUS card.
Cupid’s Heart (#7) looks like the horse to beat as she makes another attempt to graduate out of this N1X allowance condition. She arguably might have won her last race on July 22 if she had gotten away from the gate cleanly. She instead got bumped at the start and was out of position early before rallying gamely between rivals to just miss. The winner of that race, Undervalued Asset, is a talented Chad Brown trainee with prior stakes form. A repeat of that performance might be good enough to beat this field, but she is facing a few rivals who may possess a bit more upside.
Cuz Ur Pretty (#4) is an intriguing new face in this lineup as she ships in from Finger Lakes. Trainer Christopher Progno doesn’t run many horses at NYRA tracks, but he has hit the board with all four starters at Saratoga over the past five years, including a $47 winner. She’s earned competitive speed figures in her recent starts and looks quicker than her rivals through the early stages.
Three Rivers (#5) merits some consideration, but she’s stepping up to meet a tougher field than the one she defeated on debut. She got a pretty soft trip that day, just stalking along the inside through moderate fractions before taking over. She did well to hold sway late, but was only fending off the perennial bridesmaid Risk Free. Bill Mott does not have the strongest statistics with last-out debut winners stepping up in class.
My top pick is another last-out maiden winner. Portage (#8) has really improved since switching into the Linda Rice barn this summer. She set a strong pace before settling for third going a mile two back, but proceeded to gallop out strongly after the wire. She ran a more professional race last time, taking over after a stalking trip and fending off multiple challenges through the second half of the race. She bounded away from her rivals that day despite failing to change leads in the stretch. Therefore, I was encouraged to see her switch leads properly in her recent workout on Aug. 3, suggesting that she’s continuing to progress. Her recent 109 TimeformUS Speed Figure is already the highest in this field. Additionally, Rice is 9 for 24 (38 percent, $2.53 ROI) with last-out maiden winners on dirt over the past year.