Saturday Free Horse Racing Picks: Late pick four in Saratoga
We’re riding high into the final Saturday ticket of the 2021 Saratoga meeting. The late pick four ticket we handed out in this room on Friday was $ 385 and changed, and we’ll be putting some of the winnings back into the Saturday sequence. I have a $ 15 game, and that’s how I put it together.
RACE # 9
We kick off with a grant event for state-bred mares and mares. It’s a big field, and that means you will likely get a square price for any horse you prefer.
I go three-deep and my top pick is # 6 ONLY OK IS NOT OK. I think you can throw away that last clunker when she had a very adventurous trip and finished walking down the home straight. Her one-two at Belmont was pretty sharp and when she returns to that feat I think she will have a great chance of a square prize.
I will also be using # 1A CARA’S DREAMER and # 10 ENGLISH BREEZE. Neither of them have won in a while, but they were competitive at this level and over this distance. The latter in particular may appreciate a return to two corners, although the outside post is certainly not ideal.
RACE # 10
It will be easier in the second leg, a bonus race for older sprinters. I’m going in-depth, and my top pick is once again a pretty good price on the morning line.
# 6 OLYMPIAD didn’t do much wrong last summer. He finished third in a race won by the eye-catching Chad Brown trainer Reinvestment Risk and then led a very strong field that included eventual stakes winners Caddo River and Greatest Honor. We haven’t seen this Bill Mott coach race since, but he has trained very well, is getting Lasix for the first time and can be of some value.
# 1 TUGGLE, # 3 DUCALE, # 4 MARCHING and # 8 BABY YODA are also on my ticket. Simply put, I wanted significant coverage in this race, which looks a lot more like a stakes event than a first-level grant, and I hope I’ve gone deep enough.
RACE # 11
I can afford to spread a little in the first two legs because I have a single in the third. The Grade 1 Flower Bowl is the first of two Grade 1 events in the sequence, and my top pick will be a popular one.
# 3 WAR LIKE GODDESS looks like it towers over this box. Her last two wins have been incredibly impressive and any of her rivals would have to compete in the best race of their career to beat them. Plus, it would probably need to be regressed as well, and I just don’t think that’s going to happen. Was Like Goddess is supposed to win the Flower Bowl and I don’t feel the need to think about it.
RACE # 12
We conclude with the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup, which will be held for the first time in Saratoga on Saturday afternoon. I go two-deep and use the two favorite bets.
What fascinates me most is the # 1 FORZA DI ORO, which cavorted in an optional claiming event at the beginning of the meeting, even though it hadn’t run since winning the Grade 3 Discovery in the aqueduct last November. He’s had his problems, but it looks like all systems are up here and if he can take a step forward from his monstrous last performance, we could see something special in Saturday’s main event.
# 4 HAPPY SAVER won this race last season but ended up after his first loss in his career. He almost certainly didn’t hit the sloppy Grade 2 Suburban track when he was a one-step third. I think he will enjoy the return to fast driving and has shown that he likes it here both in the mornings and on his lonely start on this surface.
THE TICKET
R9: 1.6.10
R10: 1,3,4,6,8
R11: 3
R12: 1.4
