Worldwide (#3, ML 2-1) returns in Wednesday's second race at Del Mar, a six-furlong maiden special weight race. It will be his first start since finishing third by 9 1/4 lengths in a maiden special weight race June 7 at Santa Anita. The second-, fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-place finishers from that race came back to win their next starts.
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I’m taking a stand against She’s Reddy, the very beatable M/L favorite in R6, by anchoring this pick-3 ticket with the more likely winners of that race: CASSANDRAS CHASE (5), stretching out for a barn (Baltas) heating back up, and MARKETPLACE (7), going turf-to-dirt for Proctor and Van Dyke.
:: See Marty McGee’s pick three play in DRF TicketMaker and bet it with DRF Bets
BAM BAM
Trainer: Bill Mott
Last race: July 25, 2nd
Finish: 3rd by 3 1/2
Beyer: 80
Import from Brazil was slow to settle through the opening stages, settled down somewhat after being maneuvered outside, and rallied mildly four wide into the lane in first U.S. route start.
After a fun four-day appetizer, the meal that is Saratoga continues Wednesday – which in the old days would have been opening day. There’s plenty of interesting racing on the card, but I’m not the type of player to try to play – or even handicap – every race on a single card. It’s simply too much of a bandwidth drain, especially during a long meet like this one.
Often the best time to play a speed horse is when a race appears to have some pace. Lone-speed types certainly win their share of races, but they’re obvious plays, and go off well backed.
I’d rather take my chances with a quality speed horse in a race in which there seems to be other pace – with the hope that some will abandon the horse and look for an off-the-pace type to run it down. Sometimes the projected duels don’t materialize, or maybe the speed horse is simply too good.
The middle part of the Wednesday’s Saratoga card offers an interesting pick three.
Race 5: Leaning heavily on YES FOR SUCCESS in this pick three, as she has some of the better figures in this field and should also get a solid pace setup. Backup tickets will include WHERE'S THE RISK and GOTACHANCETODANCE.
A's: 4
B's: 2, 9
MARCHMAN
Trainer: Keith Desormeaux
Last race: July 22, 3rd
Finish: Second by 1/2
Beyer: 92
Making his first start since November, this Grade 3-winning turf sprinter finished strongly from the back of the field in a promising comeback. He is BC Turf Sprint material.
ROY H
COMMENT: Uncle Vinny romped in his Belmont debut May 21 and was then heavily favored against many of these in the Tremont there June 5, but after getting bumped at the start finished sixth. The son of 2-year-old champ Uncle Mo rebounded to get the win this time – though he got some help from the stewards on a questionable DQ of original winner Magna Light. Magna Light went right out to the lead, took early pressure from He’s Comin in Hot, and moved clear of that tiring rival turning for home.
TIZZARUNNER
Trainer: Mark Casse
Last race: July 25, 4th
Finish: 3rd by 3 3/4
Beyer: 76
He rallied steadily from fourth before galloping out strongly at first asking in the rapidly run Colin Stakes, which was dominated by the two talented front-runners. The $325,000 juvenile purchase could have a bright future.
At a meet like Saratoga, where there are so many competitive races and everyone’s trying to win, experience has taught me that it is best not to split hairs between several closely matched horses. Instead, I take my cue from Steve Fierro’s fine book “The Four Quarters of Horse Investing” and simply construct betting lines where contenders get 79 to 81 percentage points (see the odds percentage table in the American Racing Manual), allowing about 20 percent or so for the random results that no amount of study could foresee.
Some procedural guidelines: