Weekend Warrior for Saturday, July 28: Picks for Bowling Green Stakes, Bing Crosby Stakes, Amsterdam Stakes

Grade 1 sprint events will be decided on both coasts Saturday, with the $350,000 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap at Saratoga and the $300,000 Bing Crosby at Del Mar. Saratoga also has three other graded races on its Saturday card – the Grade 2, $600,000 Jim Dandy, the traditional local prep for the Travers; the Grade 2, $250,000 Bowling Green; and the Grade 3, $200,000 Amsterdam.

Bowling Green Stakes

With defending champion World Approval having lost his mojo and almost-champion Beach Patrol removed from his excellent 2017 form, our male turf division is crying for a horse to step up and take control. But until that happens, or until European horsemen get serious and send over a few good ones, Sadler’s Joy merits some respect just on the basis of his consistency.

Sadler’s Joy was a narrowly beaten second most recently in the Manhattan, the same was the case two starts back in the Man o’ War, he won the Mac Diarmida four back in his 2018 bow, and he won the Sword Dancer last summer at Saratoga. A duplication of any one of those performances would make him tough to beat in this spot, and since Sadler’s Joy almost always shows up, there’s little reason to think he won’t run back to those efforts.

That said, I’m still going against Sadler’s Joy Saturday. Even though he broke slowly in the Manhattan (a non-issue, really, since he’s a deep closer) and had to rally four wide on the far turn, he had every chance through the stretch to close the deal and he didn’t, getting nailed late by an up-in-class 18-1 shot.

I’m going against Money Multiplier here, too, which is really tempting fate as he is a Chad Brown trainee in a Saratoga turf stakes. But I didn’t care for Money Multiplier not catching the seemingly overmatched Funtastic last time in the United Nations, even if the race did not set up well for him pace-wise.

I prefer Manitoulin and Hi Happy, and since Manitoulin will be the bigger price of the two, I’ll side with him.

Manitoulin was 30-1 in the Manhattan, and he turned in a huge effort finishing fourth, beaten less than a length for it all. Manitoulin was hung five to six wide on the first turn and three to four wide on the far turn, all while sitting fairly close to a pretty strong and contested pace, and yet was still going head-and-head for the lead in deep stretch before weakening ever so slightly.

Hi Happy, who beat Sadler’s Joy two starts back when he won the Man o’ War, also ran big in the Manhattan while finishing third. He contested the pace from the outset, fell back inside late on the far turn, but re-rallied once he angled out in upper stretch and fought gamely to the wire.

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Bing Crosby Stakes

Roy H, who will be making his first start back in the U.S. after a somewhat disappointing third in the Dubai Golden Shaheen last March, was a thoroughly deserving male sprint champion last year. Nevertheless, he did ride strong outside track biases when he won the Breeders’ Cup Sprint and True North, and he was essentially flat in Dubai. So, this might be the time to try and tip him over.

Ransom the Moon, my pick, was plain lucky when he beat Roy H in this race last year due to Roy H’s bad trip. Still, Ransom the Moon suitably cuts back to a sprint after an okay try last time in the Met Mile, and he can draw the sort of outside stalking trip Saturday that has worked well in sprints during the early part of this Del Mar meeting.

Amsterdam Stakes

Engage might get the same sort of hotly contested pace Saturday for his closing kick that he got when second most recently in the Woody Stephens. And that might be enough for Engage to get the money, even if he was outfinished late in the Stephens by an up-in-class 13-1 shot. But my play is World of Trouble, who I think might pull a different trip than he did when fourth in the Stephens after helping set the table for Engage.

World of Trouble engaged in a pace duel in the Stephens with Promises Fulfilled. This time, my hope is that Old Time Revival is the one who goes early with Promises Fulfilled, and that World of Trouble rates in the garden spot just off the speed duel.