Saratoga - Race 5
#1 MARKET AT MIDDAY / #1A SMARTY MARTY
This is a safe play, but I believe a good one, none-the-less.
Taking the coupled entry in the fifth race at Saratoga Thursday includes a quality second-time starter and an offspring of SMARTY JONES.
The first is MARKET AT MIDDAY, who didn’t quite make the lead in her first start, but still managed to finish a game third, setting an impressive 94 BRIS speed figure in that run. She is quite capable of winning in her second try.
SMARTY MARTY has a terrible name, but her mother has seven winners from seven starters, and her father is obviously Smarty Jones, who has sired one winner already in his young sire career.
I’ll take both of them.
$10.00 to Win – #1 Market At Midday / #1A Smarty Marty
$10.00 to Place – #1 Market At Midday / #1A Smarty Marty
$10.00 to Show – #1 Market At Midday / #1A Smarty Marty
Saratoga - Race 9
#4 NOTONTHESAMEPAGE
The feature race at Saratoga Thursday is the 150k grade 2 Sanford Stakes for two-year-olds.
Every entry in the Sanford Stakes is coming off a winning performance and most of the entries are undefeated colts. It’s a quality field and many of these young colts have exhibited some early speed.
There is a significant speed bias at Saratoga at six furlongs and that could be accentuated by the weather this week, which has been, and continues to be on the wet-side. Therefore, it is hard not to favor the speedier horses in this six furlong sprint.
NOTONTHESAMEPAGE will be the favorite, but I can’t ignore him. His works have been nothing short of phenomenal for a 2-year-old and even with all of the opposing speed, he should be on the front. If so, he’s going to be hard to catch and if anyone is able to go with him, his works and the 107 BRIS Speed Figure he put up in his last race seem to suggest he can outlast them.
Whoever does win this race is going to be a two-year-old to keep an eye on throughout the fall.
$10.00 to Win – #4 Notonthesamepage
$10.00 to Place – #4 Notonthesamepage
$10.00 to Show – #4 Notonthesamepage
Del Mar - Race 2
#6 ZANDA BLUE
For a turf race, there is quite a bit of speed in this one.
Likely favorite, HARMONY CREATOR comes into the race with a wire-to-wire victory in only her second turf start; however, the early pace numbers show she didn’t need to expend much to get a 2 1/2 length head-start in that race. She does have one synthetic victory by coming from off the pace, but generally she has done poorly when she is not on the lead.
Harmony Creator will face speed from GOODBYE LUCY on the rail and from GREAT GRACE to her immediate outside. It will be very difficult for her to carry her speed to victory this time around and I would expect a bounce performance; likewise, the pace scenario bodes poorly for her other speedy rivals, who will face similar circumstances.
Of those most likely to be coming from off the pace, which the Del Mar turf course is playing favorably toward, the one with the most appealing late pace numbers is Zanda Blue, even though she has yet to race on a grass surface. Her running-style seems to beckon the turf and she improved quite a bit extending out to a route distance in her last race, breaking her maiden in her third career start. She has plenty of room to improve and her trainer, Thomas Bell, is having the majority of his success on turf, especially with dirt-to-turf starters.
The other possible play is LULLABYTIME, who is also lightly raced, and could also improve. Lullabytime also won in her third career start last time out and is also racing on grass for the first-time, but unlike Zanda Blue, she has yet to race past six-and-a-half furlongs and her late pace numbers are not quite as favorable as Zana Blue’s. Therefore, I believe Zanda Blue is the pick here and probably the best bet of the day.
$10.00 to Win – #6 Zanda Blue
$10.00 to Place – #6 Zanda Blue
$10.00 to Show – #6 Zanda Blue
Season / Last Week Summary:
NORTHERN RODES was a scratch last Thursday, which is too bad, because I really thought she was a good play in that spot.
WESTERN LEGEND went of an incredible 53/1 at post-time, and for the life of me, I still don’t understand why he was so ignored. He finished third and paid a respectable $16.00. It was a good long-shot play.
DISTANT VICTORY won at Del Mar and helped boost last Thursday’s profits.
Last Week: +$78.00
Season Total: +$70.50
Tags: Del Mar, Horse Racing Handicapping, Horse Racing Selections, Market At Midday, Notonthesamepage, Saratoga, Smarty Marty, Thursday 3, Zanda Blue
