When playing races or carryovers at tracks I normally don’t play, I try to lean on the Ultimate Race Summary found in the Brisnet.com Ultimate Past Performances , but the El Camino Real Derby (click for FREE PPs) on Saturday at Golden Gate Fields does not afford such a luxury because there has only been one 1 1/8-mile race so far this meeting at the Bay area track. A (free!) fallback is the At A Glance...
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Saturday Betfair Hollywood Park, Race 6, Local Post Time 3:04pm PT The G1 Hollywood Starlet Stakes , 1 and 1/16 Miles, Fillies, 2YO, Synth By Justin Finch The Grade 1 Hollywood Starlet has eight two-year-old fillies and almost as many question marks. There have been stronger editions of this race, to be sure, but this edition, the final one, stands tall in the puzzle department, and that provides some...
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Sunday Betfair Hollywood Park, Race 8, Local Post Time 4:07pm PT The G1 Matriarch Stakes , 1 Mile, Fillies and Mares, 3+, Turf By Justin Finch The final Matriarch, like so many before it, will be a good one. The nine-horse field contains four Grade 1 winners and is loaded with accomplished fillies and mares. At time of writing, the forecast is that the rain that has been falling on Hollywood Park will...
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One of my cause célèbre is to rally against the need to PICK A WINNER in important races. Any horse is capable of winning. A handicapper's job is to pick winners, but a horse player's job is to balance the chances of a win with the odds and bankroll. But it's Breeders' Cup Saturday, and just as everyone wants to know your Kentucky Derby pick, there's definitely an onus to be able to pick one horse...
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Santa Anita Friday, Race 10, Local Post Time 4:35 pm PT The G1 Breeders' Cup Distaff , 1 and 1/8 Miles, Dirt, F&M, 3+ By Robert Finnegan Selections : 1) #4 Royal Delta 2) #5 Beholder 3) #6 Princess of Sylmar - Get Breeders' Cup PPs for $1.50 per day - For selections, analysis, and past performances for all 14 Breeders' Cup races, get the TimeformUS Breeders' Cup Package The Breeders' Cup Distaff...
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With the release of TimeformUS Advance Breeders' Cup PPs , you can easily see which horse owns the best last-out TimeformUS speed figure in each Breeders' Cup race. We've asked TimeformUS Chief Figure Maker Craig Milkowski to describe the circumstances in which these top last-out figures were run. For Breeders’ Cup Advance Past Performances – complete with best-in-class foreign running lines and European...
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In a rare moment of social media accord, it was mostly agreed upon that the Breeders' Cup Classic fields from either 1998 or 2004 were the best not only for the Western Hemisphere's richest race but also in the history of the North American Turf ! I'll muddy the waters a little bit and include 2009 in the discussion because of the international flavor of that event and because the most popular horse...
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One of my absolute favorite races of all time is the 2011 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes because it showed the value of speed figures--even on turf. For past performances and selections of this year's QE2 and all the races at Keeneland, visit the Blood Horse shop . The QE2 (on this side of the pond) is a 1 1/8-mile turf race for three-year-old fillies, and Winter Memories entered the 2011...
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I've lamented before about the horseplayer compulsion to pick THE winner, and nothing upsets that need more than coupled entries. The Brisnet.com Ultimate Past Performances now available for Belmont Park this weekend include program numbers and morning line to help you navigate this situation. When it comes to the pari-mutuel pool, though, you don't get extra credit for saying Real Solution will win...
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Belmont, Race 10, Local Post Time 5:49 pm ET The G1 Jockey Club Gold Cup , 1 and 1/4 Miles, 3+, Dirt By Douglas Salvatore The Jockey Club Gold Cup is unquestionably the main attraction of this year's Super Saturday card at Belmont Park. The eventual Breeders' Cup Classic winner has used the Jockey Club Gold Cup as his final prep for each of the last three years, and what makes this race all the more...
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This scene from The Simpsons came to mind when considering whether to single Wise Dan in the $200,000 guaranteed Pick 4 on Sunday at Woodbine , or go against him in the Ricoh Woodbine Mile. Seeing the reigning Horse of the Year win his ninth consecutive race would "please the gentleman" as the shopkeep says in the video above, but he would do so at no more than his morning line odds of 2-to-5 and maybe...
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Sunday, Woodbine, Race 10, Scheduled Post Time 5:38pm ET The G1 Woodbine Mile , Turf, 1 Mile, Three-and-up By Douglas Salvatore Even though the Woodbine Mile might be the least attractive betting race on Sunday's entire card, it will be the focus for us because of the celebrity of Wise Dan. In plain English, Wise Dan should dominate this group. In recent races, he's been victimized by heavy weight...
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Pace handicapping is actually a two-step process. The question is not "How fast will they go," but (in the case of front runners), "How fast can this horse go and still win?" "A lot of pace in the race" doesn't set the race up for a closer if three front runners are gassed after a :22 first quarter and :45 half but a fourth horse is able to run those fractions and still come home in :24 for 1:09 for...
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The Travers Stakes is one of those races where there is an onus to have A PICK. When someone asks you, "Who is going to win the Grade 1, $1-million Travers Stakes on Saturday at historic Saratoga Race Course?" The convention is that you have a one-horse answer. I.e. hedging for value or pace or other bet types (e.g. "I'm playing an exacta with...") is not allowed. It's also frowned upon to say, "Decide...
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Sunday Saratoga, Race 9, 5:12 pm ET The Grade 1 Vandebilt, 3-and-up, 6 fulongs, Dirt Betting strategy: Straight exacta: Delaunay over Justin Phillip A field of five is assembled for the Vanderbilt. Delaunay and Gentlemen's Bet both exit the Iowa Sprint Handicap at Prairie Meadows, while Bahamian Squall and Justin Phillip exit the Smile Sprint Handicap at Calder, and the indefatigable Caixa Eletronica...
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