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. 3 wins.
SS: Saturday's Result – Its All Relevant (4-1) sat the exact trip that I was looking for, but just couldn't find another gear in the stretch and had to settle for third. Total: $502.50.
Sunday, Race 7, Msw – One of my favorite angles when playing the baby races at Saratoga is to find a horse out of a dam that won first out and has since gone on to produce at least two debut winners. Not a scenario that shows up all that often, but when it does, they typically give a pretty good account of themselves on debut. Montrachet qualifies under my criteria and should be a pretty square price to boot in this deep bunch. The daughter of Broken Vow (won his first four career starts and is a solid debut sire in his own right), a $450,000 FTFMAR purchase by Speedway Stable after breezing in :10 2/5 earlier this year, is out of 2002 Saratoga debut winner and GII Adirondack S. runner-up Stellar (Grand Slam), herself a $700,000 KEEAPR 2-year-old purchase. Stellar is also a half-sister to 2002 GI King's Bishop S. hero Gygistar, who won at first asking as well. Stellar has produced a pair of debut winners and is a head short of having three. Montrachet hasn't exactly tipped her hand in the a.m. based off her worktab–her most recent breeze is a solid four-furlong move in :48 3/5 (2/15) over the Oklahoma training track July 22–but Christophe Clement can certainly get them ready to win at first asking no matter the surface. Selection: #10 Montrachet (8-1).
BD: Saturday's Result – I knew I was probably drawing dead withe buzz surrounding Pletcher firster Theory, and I didn't feel any better when Tale of Silence started to act up in the post parade. He did give me a brief thrill when he made the lead, but proved no match for the chalk turning for home and stopped. Total: $925
Sunday, Race 10, Caress S. – Richies Sweetheart comes off two very poor efforts in which she was beaten almost 24 combined lengths, but she looks to me like the only true 5 1/2-furlong speed horse signed on here and has back races that make her extremely tough. The Larry Rivelli trainee crushed males three back in the Honor the Hero S. at Canterbury, but faded to last after setting a swift pace going six panels over the Arlington Polytrack next out. She broke slowly in Indiana's speed-laden Brandywine S. last time, and was unable to get her preferred position or save any ground–that's a complete toss-out to me. Rivelli has done well shipping to Saratoga in recent years–Richies Sweetheart herself took an allowance race here in 2014–and with the threat of a rain Sunday, it can't hurt that she has a very good record over softer turf. Hopefully they stay on the grass, as this is probably my strongest opinion of the meet so far.
Selection: #6 Richies Sweetheart (10-1)
Tune in each race day from 4:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. for Saratoga Live, available on Fox Sports 2 (channel finder), MSG+ (channel finder) and Altitude (channel finder).
For the complete broadcast schedule, visit NYRA.com
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
