Here are some of my top plays for Saturday\u2019s 12-race card at the Spa, including thoughts on the featured Grade 1 Alabama Stakes.<\/p>\n
Race 2: 6 Furlongs, Maiden Special Weight, Dirt
Top Pick: #4 One More Roller is my top choice in this 2YO New York-bred affair. She\u2019s been working well at Monmouth and gets the red-hot Ricardo Santana Jr. aboard to ride, who is having one of his best meets at the Spa. #6 Belloro makes her second start, this time with blinkers on. Expect her to be sharper out of the gate and closer to the pace.
The Bet: $10 Exacta Box 4,6 = $20<\/p>\n
Race 4: 6 Furlongs, Maiden Special Weight, Dirt
Top Pick: I\u2019ll side with experience here and take #6 Tennessee Belle, the only filly with a race under her belt. She finished second in her debut last month. #8 Saratoga Party for Chad Brown and Manny Franco is intriguing at a 10-1 morning line. Her sire Vekoma has hit at 21% with 2YO debut winners, and I like the look of her recent works. Worth a play at that price.
The Bet: $25 to win on #6 Tennessee Belle at 6-5 or better
Bonus Bet: $10 to win on #8 Saratoga Party at 8-1 or better<\/p>\n
Race 6: 5 1\/2 Furlongs, Maiden Special Weight, Turf
Top Pick: #7 Sadie Earp for Wesley Ward and Frankie Dettori finished 4th in her debut last month, earning a 67 speed figure. With Dettori aboard, expect her to be aggressive out of the gate and try to wire the field. The other Ward runner #2 Santina is a first-time starter out of Maclean\u2019s Music, whose progeny hit at 15% with turf sprinters and 14% with 2YO first-time starters. #3 Keto Drink for Shug McGaughey and Junior Alvarado comes off a 3rd-place debut last month and should improve in this one.
The Bet: $10 to win on #7 Sadie Earp
Bonus Bet: $5 Exacta Key Box 3 \/ 2,7 = $20<\/p>\n
Race 7: 6 1\/2 Furlongs, Maiden Special Weight, Dirt
Top Pick: #5 It\u2019s Our Time for Tom Amoss and Luis Saez. His sire Not This Time is hitting at 19% with 2YO first-time starters. Works have been solid, Amoss has had a strong meet, and Saez is a major plus. #6 Cost Effective for the highly successful connections of Chad Brown and Klaravich Stables is 8-1 on the morning line and is by Into Mischief, who produces 16% first-time 2YO winners. #4 Hero Declared has also been working well and looks ready to fire on debut.
The Bet: $3 Trifecta Box 4,5,6 = $18<\/p>\n
Race 8: Skidmore Stakes
Top Pick: This turf sprint features multiple entries from specialists George Weaver and Wesley Ward. #2 Sandal\u2019s Song for Weaver and Irad Ortiz Jr. comes off a 3rd place finish at Ascot following a debut win at Gulfstream in May. He should be tough here. Stablemate #4 Tough Critic also ships back to the US from Ascot and will look to rebound after a disappointing effort last out. #1 Schwarzenegger for Ward and John Velazquez makes his debut off sharp works over the Oklahoma turf track. Ward is winning at 28% with 2YOs. #8 Spirit of New York posted a 73 speed figure in his debut, the best in the field. While he steps up from state-bred company, improvement in here would make him a strong contender.
The Bet: $25 to win on #2 Sandal\u2019s Song at 2-1 or better
Bonus Bet: $5 Daily Double 2,4 \/ 6 = $10<\/p>\n
Race 10: Grade 1 Alabama Stakes
Top Pick: As you may have guessed with my bet in the last race, my top pick is #6 La Cara for Mark Casse and Dylan Davis. Can she get the mile and a quarter? That\u2019s the question, but as the likely lone speed in the race, I\u2019ll take the shot and hope she wires them. Her Acorn effort was very impressive, and I\u2019m banking on a repeat. #11 Good Cheer was disappointing in that Acorn, but perhaps she just didn’t like the off track that day. She’ll get back to a fast track in this one, and if she runs back to her Kentucky Oaks performance, she\u2019s the horse to beat. The other Casse trainee is #4 Nitrogen, who jumps back to dirt after a tough nose loss in the G1 Belmont Oaks. She was game in that effort, battling all the way down the stretch and just getting nailed at the wire by a Fionn who came flying late. Her only prior dirt start was an easy win in the G3 Wonder Again, which came off the turf and ended up being just a three-horse field. If her stellar turf form translates to the dirt, she\u2019s a major player.
The Bet: $25 to win on #6 La Cara
Bonus Bet: $10 Exacta Box 4,6 = $20<\/p>\n
King’s Plate features robust field on Canada’s biggest racing day<\/a>Casse’s duo of La Cara and Nitrogen take on Good Cheer in the Alabama<\/a>Travers Stakes: Few expected to take on Derby and Belmont winner Sovereignty<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Here are some of my top plays for Saturday\u2019s 12-race card at the Spa, including thoughts on the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":70428,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[3004,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-70427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-racing","tag-racing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70427","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=70427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}