Gulfstream, sans post drag, has started its primary winter season, but the Claiming Crown races on the Saturday program looked too daunting for the selection of merely one horse, the requirement of this exercise. Aqueduct is ending its autumn season and the Cigar Mile card offers stakes races at the other pole, short fields and limited plausible winners. Still, I’m sticking with New York over Florida’s Atlantic Coast while venturing to Tampa Bay Downs on the Gulf Coast – and am just glad none of the three races under consideration has a Brad Cox-trained horse to contemplate. Last weekend, the Cox-trained Travel Column rocketed home to run down Clairiere, a selection in this space who ran too well to lose at odds of 5-1. That gave Cox 30 graded-stakes winners in 2020. His barn is hitting at a 33 percent strike rate with such horses and boasts a $2.90 ROI – numbers I would gladly take for this Weekend GamePlan. Cigar Mile Substantial rain could cause Firenze Fire and Mind Control to be scratched, DRF’s David Grening reports, and the defection of the former, especially, will drop the price on favored Performer. I have no problem with Performer, but if Firenze Fire comes out, he could go as short as odds-on, which seems like a pretty low number on a horse who has made one stakes start in his career, that at the Grade 3 level! He’s drawn the rail, no bargain with pace to his outside, and has no real Beyer Speed Figure edge on several other longer-priced horses. :: Get DRF Betting Strategies for the Aqueduct and Los Alamitos Saturday cards I concede to briefly being tempted by Mr. Buff, whose Aqueduct record is eye-catching. Mr. Buff has handled wet tracks in the past and could make a clear lead, but I think his bounce-back race last out in New York-bred competition was as good as he’s going to get at this stage, and, obviously, Mr. Buff’s recent performances in open stakes have left something to be desired. The third horse who figures to take some action is King Guillermo, who hasn’t started since May and whose signature win came over Sole Volante. He’s never faced older horses, and his trainer told Grening the colt was training better into the Kentucky Derby, a race from which he had to be scratched, than he has for the Cigar Mile. Majestic Dunhill raced just last weekend, and raced poorly, but I’ll try him to post a Cigar Mile upset. I’ve no idea why Majestic Dunhill never got untracked in the Fall Highweight, but one need only look two and three starts back to find performances strong enough to win this. He’s run well over a sloppy track, and trainer George Weaver’s record running horses back in a week or less is quite encouraging. Demoiselle I guess Malathaat could just jump to the lead and never look back as the odds-on favorite in the Demoiselle, but I suspect she’ll have to work harder to win this nine-furlong, two-turn race than she did dominating one-turn competition in her first two starts. After giving Malibu Curl ample consideration despite the gap between starts and no races yet beyond seven furlongs, the selection is Millefeuille, whose price, I fear, could drop below the 7-2 morning-line odds. This filly, one of three in the race by Curlin, was loaded throughout her second-start maiden win last out, really letting fly with a nice turn of foot when coming between horses in upper stretch. Maybe she doesn’t have as much raw talent as the favorite (maybe she does), but she has gotten far more demanding race experience during her career and could put it to good use Saturday. She hails from a strong Juddmonte family, and I expect her to stay this trip. Sandpiper I strongly suspect Gulf Coast’s odds will be far lower than the 7-2 morning-line price, but I don’t trust her much at all off the one start, an Indiana Grand maiden race. There was not much between the top three home in that race, and I wonder if the speed figure over-rates the performance in this case. On paper, there’s plenty of early and middle pace entered, and I’ll guess Nurse Judy can stalk, pounce, and post an upset. Her lone start yielded a turf-sprint win, but this pedigree leans more toward dirt than turf. The trainer sent her to Tampa to get a work over the track this week, and Nurse Judy, off the mere $40,000 maiden-claiming start, figures to be overlooked in the wagering.