Betting secrets to survive Saratoga
Today is a very good day for horseplayers. Saratoga opens its six week run and it doesn't get any better than this.
Oversized purses will attract the best horse racing product all year. Plus one advantage that Saratoga has over Del Mar is shippers will come in from all over the East and Midwest to supplement the top stables already racing in New York.
The only drawback, and there aren't many, is the weather. Thunder storms roll through Saratoga on a regular basis thus a perfect day can be turned into a quagmire pretty quickly.
I'll share with you one Saratoga secret of mine that has been profitable over the years.
I follow the 2-year-old maiden special weight races very closely. Many of the future stars of our sport will debut at the Spa. The ones that their connections think are the most talented will often times get way overbet.
What I keep track of are the hyped babies that lose for one reason or another. I will bet them back second time out at higher odds either at Saratoga or if the next start occurs at the Belmont Park fall meet. The worse the running line, the better the odds they'll be next time.
Even though Saratoga has a nickname of the "graveyard of favorites," it is exaggerated. Granted, over the years many high profile champions have been upset at the Spa.
But overall, on a daily basis, the favorites do quite well. It's no different than handicapping any racing card where finding vulnerable favorites to beat begins the road to showing a profit.
PLAYER’S GUIDES — The Daily Racing Form Del Mar and Saratoga Player's Guides are now available in all race books in Las Vegas. It is a must read treasure trove of what happened the previous year plus key statistical trends to follow.
WYNN LAS VEGAS — The $200,000 Guaranteed Wynn Las Vegas Race Handicapping Challenge is next July 31 and Aug. 1. The entry fee is $2,000. But the kicker is the top two finishers will earn a free berth into the 2016 Daily Racing Form/National Thoroughbred Racing Association National Handicapping Championship. The 2016 NHC will be held at the Treasure Island.
WHIP RULE — The California Horse Racing Board just instituted a new whip rule that limits a jockey to hitting a horse three times in a row. Then he must give the horse a chance to respond before hitting up to three times again.
With any new rule comes a period of assessment. I think I've already seen enough. California jockeys are being fined left and right for whip use that would be considered modest in most racing jurisdictions.
A good example would be the finish of the Osunitas Stakes at Del Mar last Saturday. Flavien Prat won on Gas Total with a very aggressive finish, getting the horse up in the final stride. He was fined for overuse of the whip even though dozens of jockeys around the country that day did the same, or more, in trying to win a race.
Another example is Victor Espinoza on American Pharoah in the Kentucky Derby. He hit the horse more than 30 times in the stretch trying to hold off Firing Line and Dortmund. In theory the CHRB would have fined Espinoza, but I suspect trainer Bob Baffert would have gladly paid it considering the final result.
Richard Eng's horse racing column is published Friday in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He can be reached at rich_eng@hotmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @richeng4propick
