TDN's Steve Sherack and Brian DiDonato will give their best bet of the day for every Friday, Saturday and Sunday card of the Saratoga meet, and bet $50 Win/Place on their selection. In the case of a scratch, an alternate pick will be posted on twitter. The handicapper who has accrued the biggest bankroll through Sept. 4 wins.
SS: Friday's Result – Finally caught a break scratching into Luckystrikedelcoco, who was a sharp wire-to-wire winner at 9-2 in the fifth race… Got DiDonato right where I want him with two races left to go. Total: $1,542.50.
Saturday, Race 3, Msw – Cleave, a son of the great Smart Strike, has more than enough pedigree on his side to be a runner and hails from a barn that is quite capable of getting one to win going long on turf first time out. His dam Owsley, a MGSW of $865k on the green stuff, was a debut winner going two turns on dirt at Gulfstream and has also produced her share of nice runners, including narrow GI Wood Memorial second Arthur's Tale and the grassy stakes winner Senada. She has also passed on some precocity to the stakes-placed War Hoot, a second out winner, and Remember Then, who won first out over the Keeneland synthetic. Cleave, a $250,000 KEESEP yearling purchase, should offer plenty of value in what looks like a pretty wide-open affair for Bobby Ribaudo. Selection: #9 Cleave (8-1).
BD: Friday's Result – I can't believe Sherack's about to come back and beat me. Of course, his hopeless 20-1 shot had to scratch so he could instead take that winning 9-2 shot. Meanwhile, my pick failed to make any impact. Wire! Wire! Total: $2070.
Saturday, Race 9, GI Spinaway S. – One thing I've really come to value having watched a disturbing number of 2-year-old replays this year is the power of high cruising speed coupled with the ability to shut off and rate when it's necessary. For that reason, I loved Runway Doll's debut (and maybe because I picked her that day in this contest, too). She's obviously super quick, but when a horse came up along the inside to challenge her turning for home, she waited patiently for Julien Leparoux to give her the green light. When he did, she absolutely blew them away. The fact that the race came over a sloppy track and didn't come back super fast should only help to inflate her price, and she was flattered on Travers day when a colt she had reportedly been outworking easily came back to break his maiden. Selection: #3 Runway Doll (3-1).
Tune in each race day from 4 – 6:30 p.m. for Saratoga Live, available on Fox Sports 2 (channel finder), MSG+ (channel finder) and Altitude (channel finder) and presented by Claiborne Farm.
For the complete broadcast schedule, visit NYRA.com
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