Four stakes including the $600,000 Jim Dandy are on tap on Saturday at the Spa. © Wingbeats551 | Dreamstime.com
Starting with the $200,000 Amsterdam (G2) in the fifth race, Saratoga hosts four graded stakes on Saturday’s 11-race card.
The Amsterdam drew a field of seven three-year-olds that will go 6 ½ furlongs on the Spa main track. Chick Lang Stakes winner Holy Boss is the 5-2 morning line favorite. The Steve Asmussen trainee has won four of his seven career starts.
The race serves as the anchor leg of the early Pick 5 with a post time of 3:17 ET.
The eighth race is the $350,000 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap (G1) which drew a solid field of seven older sprinters.
Trainer Todd Pletcher sends out the streaking Rock Fall, who has won five races in a row, winning the True North (G2) in his last start in his stakes debut. The colt earned a career best 110 Beyer Speed Figure in the victory.
He faces Salutos Amigos, who won the Mr. Prospector in the slop at Monmouth Park in his last outing, his sixth win in his last eight starts.
The Big Beast makes his third start off the bench for the Tony Dutrow barn. The colt won twice over the Spa main track last year including taking the King’s Bishop (G1).
The $250,000 Bowling Green Handicap (G2) drew nine that will go 1 3/8 miles on the turf. The Chad Brown trained innovation Economy is the 5-2 morning line favorite. The colt won the Belmont Gold Cup at two miles in his stakes debut.
The final stake on the day is the $600,000 Jim Dandy (G2) for three-year-olds going nine furlongs. It looks as if six will start including last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) champion Texas Red.
Frosted is the 2-1 morning line favorite in the Jim Dandy. The Kiaran McLaughlin trainee makes his first start since running second to American Pharoah in the Belmont Stakes (G1) on June 6.
Saturday’s Best Plays Report will include my strongest plays from Del Mar and the Spa including all of the stakes action.
Let’s head out to the Spa for Saturday’s featured race of the day:
Saratoga Race 5 The Amsterdam G2 (Post time 3:17 ET)
7 Holy Boss 5-2
3 March 3-1
1 Requite 5-1
5 Barbados 7-2
Analysis: Holy Boss is coming off a win at Pimlico in the Chick Lang for his third win in a row. Three runners he beat that day came back to win next out including Gimme Da Lute, who won the Affirmed (G3) and the Los Alamitos Derby (G2) in his next two starts. The colt returns off a 2 1/2 month break for the Steve Asmussen barn and he owns a solid pace profile throughout.
March was a game winner by a neck last out in the Woody Stephens (G2) at seven furlongs at Belmont Park. The third and fourth place finishers both came out of the race to win optional claimers in their next starts. The Chad Brown trainee has won three of his five career starts and runs well with a two-month break.
Requite has won three of his four career starts and is perfect in two trips this year. Last out he won the Big Cypress at Gulfstream Park for his first stakes win. The effort was flattered when the runner up Grand Bili came back to win the Carry Back (G3) in his next outing on July 5 at Gulfstream Park. He makes his third start off the bench and he still appears to have some upside.
Wagering
WIN: #7 to win at 2-1 or better.
EX: 3,7 / 1,3,5,7
TRI: 3,7 / 1,3,5,7 / 1,3,4,5,7
Michael Dempsey’s Saratoga Special:
Get Michael’s full card reports for Saratoga includes his selections, analysis, fair odds line, and wagering recommendations. Get reports for the entire meeting between July 24 and Sept. 1. Michael’s Saratoga Report includes his selections, analysis, fair odds line, and wagering recommendations. Mike has been handicapping the New York Racing circuit on a daily basis for nearly three decades. Saratoga runs six days a week, Wednesday through Monday.
