Here are some of my top plays for Saturday\u2019s card at The Spa, highlighted by the Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes featuring top 3-year-old Sovereignty.<\/p>\n
Race 1: 6F, $40,000 Claiming, Dirt
Top Pick: #4 Otto The Conqueror. Drops out of a Grade 3 race, so he gets major class relief and cuts back in distance. I like #1 Gun It and #2 Loco Abarrio underneath.
The Bet: $5 Trifecta 4 \/ 1,2 \/ 1,2 = $10<\/p>\n
Race 2: 6F, MSW, Dirt
Top Pick: #6 Further Ado for Brad Cox and Irad Ortiz Jr. By Gun Runner, who hits at 19% with first-time starters. Irad and Cox don\u2019t team up often, but when they do, they\u2019re winning at a 20% clip and hitting the board 54% of the time.
The Bet: $20 to Win at 5\/2 or better<\/p>\n
Race 6: 1 1\/16 Miles, Allowance, Inner Turf
Top Pick: #8 North End Lady. Should appreciate the cutback from 1 3\/16 to 1 1\/16 miles\u2014the distance where she broke her maiden. Was third last out in this same condition and gets Dylan Davis back aboard.
The Bet: $20 to Win at 6-1 or better<\/p>\n
Race 9: G3 Lake George Stakes, 1 1\/16 Miles, Inner Turf
Top Pick: #5 Classic Q for Casse and Jose Ortiz. Wired the field in the Wild Applause and looks like the clear speed again. Logical second choice is #4 Lavender Disaster for Brown and Prat. She weakened late in that same race to finish third and is well-spotted again here. I also like #6 Princess Attitude, who was second last out to Lush Lips, a next-out stakes winner. She may prefer shorter, but at 15-1, she could grab a piece or be a shock winner.
The Bet: $10 Exacta Key Box: 5 \/ 4,6 = $40<\/p>\n
Race 10: G2 Jim Dandy, 1 1\/8 Miles, Dirt
Top Pick: #5 Sovereignty is the clear horse to beat at 2-5. Towers over the field on figures and has delivered on the biggest stage. #1 Baeza has been training aggressively and could be more forwardly placed\u2014he\u2019d need a career-best, but that\u2019s not impossible. #3 Mo Plex is the clear speed and proved his two-turn ability with a win in the G3 Ohio Derby at today\u2019s distance. That said, I think Sovereignty\u2019s B+ race gets it done.
To play devil\u2019s advocate: if you\u2019re going to beat the monster that is Sovereignty, your best shot might be at this 1 1\/8-mile distance\u2014he seems to prefer the 1 1\/4.
The Bet: $20 Trifecta: 5 \/ 1 \/ 3
Longshot Play: $5 Exacta 1,3 \/ 1,3,5 = $20<\/p>\n
Race 11: 1 1\/16 Miles, MSW, Turf
Top Pick: #9 Hello Beauty. Drops into this restricted NY-bred race after facing open company and owns the highest Beyer in the field (72), five points better than the next closest. #6 Nonna Lynne should improve making her third start after just missing last time. I also like #4 Tahlia for Dylan Davis and Miguel Clement underneath.
The Bet: $10 Exacta 9 \/ 4,6 = $20<\/p>\n
Horse Racing Playbook, Picks, Predictions: Saturday July 26th<\/a>Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga: Best Bets and Predictions<\/a>It’s all about Nysos in San Diego Handicap<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Here are some of my top plays for Saturday\u2019s card at The Spa, highlighted by the Grade 2…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24406,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[3004,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-24405","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-racing","8":"tag-racing","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24405\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}