70°F
weather icon Mostly Clear

Whitney Handicap headlines big weekend of stakes races

When I began my horse racing career at the New York Racing Association, the Saratoga meet was four weeks long. Now it’s six. There was a stakes race each day of the 24-day meet, more on the weekends.

The trend is to cluster stakes on the weekend to create a festival type of card. On Saturday, Saratoga will offer four stakes, including the Grade 1 Test and Whitney Handicap, and Mountaineer Park will card nine stakes, led by the West Virginia Derby.

The $1.25 million Whitney starts with Frosted (3-5), who won the Met Mile by 14 lengths in a sizzling mile time of 1:32.73. He earned a Beyer Speed figure of 123, a number seldom seen from the modern thoroughbred.

The issue for horseplayers is this: How will Frosted react to such a magnificent effort?

I’m not sure trainer Kiaran McLaughlin knows the answer, either. If Frosted repeats the race, which I doubt he can do, then he will win by 14 lengths again over the likes of Effinex (7-2), Comfort (8-1) and Upstart (10-1). Even if Frosted runs 10 Beyer points slower, he still would win.

Saratoga has long hbeen called the “Graveyard of Champions,” and if there is a chink in Frosted’s armor, it is that he has lost all three of his starts at Saratoga.

If you can beat Frosted, who is a likely single in the Pick 6 and Pick 4 at Saratoga, you may be on to something.

We recently saw the best handicap horses in the West in California Chrome, Dortmund and Beholder. Now it’s time to see the best in the East.

The Test also will be in that Saratoga Pick 6 and Pick 4 on Saturday. It looks like a wide-open stakes among the eight entrants.

The favorite will be Off the Tracks (8-5), who just won the Mother Goose over Lewis Bay (9-2) and Lightstream (8-1). Those three will meet in the Test, a race of 7 furlongs, while the Mother Goose was 9 furlongs.

Kareena (9-5) also will take a lot of action, as she has won two 6 furlong sprints by daylight.

I like Lightstream, who is unbeaten in three starts at 7 furlongs. When she went longer in the Mother Goose, it watered down her closing kick. I always have liked horses that are cutting back in distance. It’s a strong handicapping angle, as horses will tend to finisher better at the shorter distance.

The West Virginia Derby is like the “B team” of 3-year-olds that avoided the Haskell and Jim Dandy. The Derby drew 12 horses, led by Cupid (3-1) from trainer Bob Baffert. Cupid was a game winner of the Indiana Derby last out.

Cupid is no cinch, as Economic Model (4-1), Suddenbreakingnews (9-2), Mo Tom (5-1) and No Distortion (8-1) have shots to win.

I like Economic Model best for trainer Chad Brown. He will be wearing blinkers on for the first time. His connections had Kentucky Derby hopes that did not pan out. However, his past three races show a marked improvement and new found maturity.

Richard Eng’s horse racing column is published Friday in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. You can buy his Del Mar picks at www.racedaylasvegas.com. You can email him at rich_eng@hotmail.com and follow him on Twitter @richeng4propick.

THE LATEST
Irish War Cry due for good race, pick to win Belmont

With Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming and Preakness champion Cloud Computing skipping the Belmont Stakes on Saturday, the Triple Crown races will produce three different winners for the second consecutive year.

This weekend is filled with festival-style horse racing

Today the trend is for racetracks to cluster their stakes in a festival-style program. Thus, the Met Mile will be among nine graded stakes on the Belmont Stakes card June 10.

Always Dreaming’s Preakness run proves ‘horses are human’

Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming by various accounts came bouncing out of Churchill Downs in good order. His Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher felt good about his preparation.

Kentucky Derby offers clues for Preakness winner

Always Dreaming is the horse the racing industry will be rooting for. A win in the Preakness sets up another Triple Crown chance in the Belmont Stakes on June 10.

Preakness questions immediately face Always Dreaming

After Always Dreaming crossed the finish line first in the Kentucky Derby, the first question was, “Is he good enough to win the Triple Crown.”

McCraken gets nod to win Kentucky Derby

Many experts are calling this the most wide-open Kentucky Derby in years. When I hear that, I get cynical. Wide open was in 2009 when Mine That Bird destroyed the field at 50-1 odds.

Kentucky Derby week means betting seminars in Las Vegas

The Kentucky Derby attracts the most novice and casual bettors of any race in our sport. With that in mind, there are all kinds of free Derby seminars next week.

Patience is necessary for future bets in horse racing

I love making future bets, not only in horse racing but also other sports. That’s because horseplayers learn a basic tenet early on. Our goal is to bet a little to win a lot.

‘Super Saturday’ should solidify Kentucky Derby field for many horses

When the folks at Churchill Downs dreamed up the Kentucky Derby points system, I was skeptical at first. Not anymore. It has worked by producing fields of in-form horses that, for the most part, are also bred to race two turns.