Results: Saratoga - Day 12 (August 5, 2010)
Entries: Saratoga - Day 13 (August 6, 2010)
Race 3: Loudonville Stakes, 6 furlongs, 3yo, Fillies
This listed sprint stakes is restricted to three year old fillies that have never won a graded stakes race.
1-Stormandaprayer (5/1) has flashed some ultra-impressive opening quarter splits in her last two races at Belmont and she's going to have to use all of that speed in this spot to ensure she doesn't get pinned down on the rail. She's a big pace factor but I think she'll have trouble taking this group the entire way.
5-Lisa's Booby Trap (12/1) ships in from Finger Lakes where she toyed with the competition in three starts at the track. The question with this filly is can she transfer Finger Lakes form to Saratoga where the competition is deeper? She sizzled a five furlong work at Saratoga last week, covering five furlongs in :59.34, fastest of thirty at the distance that morning. To put that work in a bit of perspective, Krypton was the second fastest that day with D'Funnybone fourth.
The upside with Lisa's Booby Trap is that the Finger Lakes form will likely cause her to go to post as very nice odds; she definitely could be worth a look.
With an overabundance of early speed in this race, the pace scenario appears to set-up well for the 4-Funny Feeling, the 5/2 morning line favorite. This filly threw in the towel in her last start against Grade 1 competition in the Prioress but should find these fillies much more to her liking.
Race 6: Maiden Special Weight, 5 ½ furlongs (Turf), 3&up, Fillies & Mares2-Pin Turn (GB) (7/2) just missed securing her maiden breaking score when she was beaten by a head on July 19th at Philadelphia Park. She's been much more competitive in her sprint races than in her two turn tries and it just might be the case of "the shorter, the better" with this filly. Additionally, Goldberg has performed well with turf sprinters the past five years (29-for-116, 25%, $3.08 ROI).
I like 7-Fandangle (8/1) strictly as a long shot play in this spot. Her debut effort at Delaware was a disaster as she finished 22 ¾ lengths behind the winner. Trainer Michael Matz will make the switch to the lawn for her second try and over the past five years Matz is 14-for-86 (16%) with first time turfers in Maiden Special Weight races ($1.60 ROI). Fandangle ripped off a nice five furlong work over the Saratoga turf course on July 28th and should be ready to fire a much improved effort. I think she might be an attractive play in the exacta or trifecta.
Race 7: OC 35k/N1X, 1 ½ miles (Inner Turf), 3&up
A mile and a half turf race graces the Saratoga card this Friday, this one for "non-winners other than" or a claiming price of $35k.
3-Ordination (IRE) (9/5) got all the attention from the track odds maker and for good reason - he's 4-2-1-0 at the mile and a half distance and he's got enough speed on the front end to take this field all the way around the inner turf. His last race at Delaware saw him finish a fairly lackluster fourth as the 6/5 favorite but he got caught up in a bit more of a duel on the front end than he would have liked. If Alan Garcia can keep him relaxed early he should be the one to beat.
Chad Brown has been lighting up Saratoga during the first two weeks of the meet (9-for-20, 45%, $4.57 ROI) so it would be foolish to ignore 1-Cheyenne Nation (6/1).