Wednesday TimeformUS Highlight Horse: Pretti Xtreme steps up off the claim

Saratoga | Race 8 | Post Time 5:10 p.m. (ET)

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The scratch of Movie Moxy certainly opens this race up. Chad Brown has entered a couple of runners who figure to take money. The overachiever Tough Street (#3) has some competitive speed figures, but I wonder if she’ll be overmatched as she steps up to this level for the first time after beating weaker in an off-the-turf race.

Signal From Noise (#4) is more interesting to me. She probably didn’t want to go 1 1/4 miles last time and also got somewhat stymied in a pocket approaching the stretch that day. She had run very well in her prior start and would be dangerous here if she can get back to that form.

Tizzy in the Sky (#8) is another to consider off the layoff, but she’s also been a vet scratch at this meet, and I’m not so confident that we’ll see her maintain top form as she returns for a new trainer. Even Leave No Trace (#5) has a right to get back on track here off one poor performance this winter. She certainly ran well in Saratoga last summer and now has a chance to build on that form.

Yet I want to go in a different direction with a horse that horse more recency. Pretti Xtreme (#9) just won going this distance in impressive fashion earlier in the meet, but did so in a claiming race against much softer foes. Some probably won’t take her seriously on the class hike, but I think she fits well here. She has prior form for different trainers that puts her in the mix, and now she’s making her first start off the claim for Rob Falcone, who has excellent stats with this move. Falcone hasn’t had much recent success at Saratoga, collecting plenty of seconds and thirds without winning. Yet that’s just a reason that this mare might get overlooked in a race where she otherwise makes plenty of sense and should get the right setup.