Weekend Warrior for Jan. 24: Picks for Rego Park, Sweetest Chant, Cal Cup Turf Classic

Because it’s a Kentucky Derby prep, the Grade 2 Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream Park will garner most of the attention of horseplayers Saturday. But aside from using a few horses in multirace gimmicks – the race is difficult to decipher and is a pass for me.

Three other stakes across the country entice, however – everywhere from New York to Florida to California. So, let’s get to that action.

Rego Park Stakes

At first glance, this wasn’t a race that caught my eye, drawing just six entrants and two clear-cut favorites in Regal Minister and Deficit Hawk. But the race takes on interest if one has faith in the decision making of trainer Christophe Clement.

Clement has interestingly entered Saratoga Dreamer, a horse who almost seems out of place here. He is a New York-bred 3-year-old, like his five rivals in this restricted stakes, but beyond that, there are uncertainties regarding how Saratoga Dreamer will handle dirt, a surface on which he is unraced, and whether he will possess the necessary fitness following a layoff of more than fourth months.

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If Saratoga Dreamer had a low-percentage trainer, he might be a horse to dismiss. But Clement won with 19 percent of his starters last year, and despite being regarded as a turf trainer, he had success shifting horses from grass to dirt. Specifically, 25 percent of his last 40 such horses have won.

With a horse who won first out in a turf sprint at Saratoga before running last of eight in the Grade 2 Summer Stakes on yielding ground at Woodbine, Clement is showing considerable confidence to ship Saratoga Dreamer to Aqueduct from his Payson Park base for this race. It would have been far easier to have simply run the horse on turf in Florida.

Instead, Clement opted for the more aggressive strategy of shipping and trying something new – a sign that he must be highly encouraged with how Saratoga Dreamer has trained on dirt and his current fitness level.

Throw in a series of fast Payson Park breezes over that tiring strip and first-time Lasix – an angle with which Clement is also regularly successful – and Saratoga Dreamer is the value play of the Rego Park at 4-1 odds on the morning line.

Sweetest Chant Stakes

Of the five stakes at Gulfstream on Saturday, the most appealing win bet comes in the Grade 3 Sweetest Chant for 3-year-old fillies on grass. There, Consumer Credit looks ready for her third straight win and her first graded stakes victory.

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In each of her last two wins, Consumer Credit has given every indication of being a high-class turf horse. In winning a maiden race at Belmont Park on Oct. 25 going six furlongs, she rated kindly under prompting from her rider after a sharp break and surged when given a hole in early stretch. And then in the Wait a While Stakes at Gulfstream Park West, she made a steady three-wide advance to take command and drew off with a fast-closing quarter-mile in her first attempt around two turns.

Consumer Credit further owns some of the top Beyer Speed Figures in the field and may have a fitness edge over the comebacking Quality Rocks, who is unraced since fading to 10th in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf on Oct. 31.

California Cup Turf Classic

Coming off a couple of flat efforts, top choice Big Bane Theory might go off as a slight overlay against Alert Bay in this deep turf field at 1 1/8 miles.

Admittedly, those races were not his best, but he was running in graded stakes company. In fact, five of his last six races have come against such rivals, and he proved good enough to win one of those races in taking the Grade 2 City of Hope at Santa Anita on Oct. 4.

Santa Anita is his favorite turf course, where he is 4 for 7 – in stark contrast to his 0-for-5 mark on other turf courses.

Alert Bay certainly will be tough, and others in here have lesser chances, but the inclination is to take the “class on the grass” – Big Bane Theory.