SARATOGA SHOTSPreviewing The 2017 MeetVolume 16...Number 4

MILE AND AN EIGHT DIRT RACES AT SARATOGA...WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES...OR DOES IT?

There is not a "serious" horse bettor alive who would make an argument for betting every race. It is difficult enough for a solid handicapping tool player to keep his or head above water when they are in their comfort zone. Allowing themselves to drift outside that zone simply to "play the next race" is suicidal.

How one defines a "comfort zone" might vary slightly, based on what kind of races that individual derives a higher Return On Investment (R.O.I.) from,…

The summer racing season at Saratoga is all about the top horses, trainers, and jockeys in horseracing, and the top-notch handicapping and betting opportunities that go along with them. The fields will be huge, the competition will be stiff and evenly-matched, and the payoffs will often be pricey and loaded with good value for horseplayers who are willing to put in the necessary effort.

The 40-day Saratoga racing season lasts throughout the heart of the summer, running six days a week (every day except Tuesday) from Friday, July 21 until Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 4.  The 2017 Saratoga meet will feature…

SARATOGA SHOTSPreviewing The 2017 MeetVolume 16...Number 2NO MEET IN THE NATION FEATURES MORE SHIPPERS THAN SARATOGA...WHERE DO THEY COME FROM AND HOW DO THEY PERFORM?Each year on these pages we show you how the various shippers di the year before at Saratoga.Over the years these numbers have remained very consistent. Which should not come as a surprise since it is the practice of the more productive barns to rely on a consistent set of operating procedures.Trainers such as Todd Pletcher, Chad Brown, Kieran McLaughlin, Graham Motion, Mark Casse, Steve Asmussen, Bill Mott, Christophe Clement and Mike Maker have wide spread…

SARATOGA SHOTSPreviewing The 2017 MeetVolume 16...Number 1FOLLOWING THE TOTE AT SARATOGA...GOOD MOVE/BAD MOVE?The wait is just about over. The forty day Saratoga Meet for 2017 gets under way on Friday, July 21.Over the course of the next week and a half we are going to take a look at some statistics, some trends and some very solid repetitive standards that both support and just as equally fly in the face of a number of very well-held beliefs on the part of bettors.There is no better place to begin than to do so with one of the most widely held, often…

Not all handicappers/bettors look so deeply into overall available information that they process the monetary breeding value of their runners, especially younger or lightly run horses, by looking at stud fees.

However, a number of more astute handicappers do. For those of you who might glance at the stud fees of the various sires and indiscriminately weigh the value of that horse by the sire, the following can serve as a bit of an eye-opener and in general give you the idea that not all sire success is relative to the stud fee.

Generally speaking, second year crop sires, with the exception…

Saratoga is the most important meet of the summer season for horseplayers, who will invariably need to handicap well at The Spa if they hope to make big money.  The highly looked-forward-to and anticipated 40-day Saratoga racing season lasts throughout the heart of the summer, running six days a week (every day except Tuesday) from Friday, July 21 until Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 4.

If you are a serious horseplayer and you are not already looking forward to the Saratoga meet, it might be time to check your pulse because Saratoga is the summer place to be for all handicappers and…

SARATOGA IS RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER...HERE ARE SOME HORSES THAT MIGHT BEAR WATCHING

HORSES TO WATCH

NOTE – With Saratoga looming (begins Friday, July 21, many horses that ran last week at Belmont will likely make their next tries at the Spa. With this in mind we take a brief look at a number of those horses and how that last race might translate to Saratoga.

Also listed are a few runners from Delaware, PARX and Monmouth who might ship to New York. In any case those runners should be followed at their home tracks as well.

(Horses To Watch From Monday, June 19…

WINNING TIPS FOR A STRONG FINAL MONTH AT BELMONT

The Belmont Stakes has come and gone but a full month still remains at the Belmont Park spring/summer meet. Here are some tips and trends to help you finish strong as the Belmont meet comes down the home stretch.

There are lots of great handicapping and wagering opportunities at Belmont this summer at what has always been the early summer season's premier racetrack.  With a half-meet worth of statistics to sink our teeth into, horseplayers who have been paying attention have accumulated a solid set of data from the Belmont meet so far.…

While after the fact every pundit and talking head had all the reasons that Tapwrit won, including the fact that Pletcher has been somewhat adept at cashing Belmont success with horses who skipped the Preakness after failing in the Kentucky Derby there is much more to the layoff AND even Pletcher has failed with it. While Destin ran second in the 2016 Belmont, Materiality was up the track in 2015

However, for any number of reasons (both generic and in regard to Tapwrit) I can only give you my reasons for not using him.

*I did not believe that the Pletcher layoff…

BELMONT BUZZVolume 15 - Number 5June 8, 2017

BELMONT STAKES PREVIEW PLUS ALL THE DIFFERENT STORIES

(NOTE) - By now you likely know that Classic Empire will not run in the Belmont Stakes. A foot abscess has knocked the 2-year old champion and Preakness runner-up out of the race.

IT MIGHT BE LAST IN ORDER BUT THE BELMONT STAKES IS FIRST IN "STORIES"

Any long time Triple Crown player, whether they voice it or not, has to know that the one thing the third leg of the Triple Crown can claim as its own distinction, is that it brings with it a past complete…