Friday's Best Bet: Therideofalifetime ready to go in Saratoga Special
Friday's 9th race from Saratoga is the Grade 2, $150,000 Saratoga Special for 2-year-olds dashing six furlongs on the main track (Post Time 5:46 p.m. ET).
Click here for Saratoga Entries, Results
#9 THERIDEOFALIFETIME (4-1) followed up a solid place finish behind Jackie’s Warrior with a razor sharp front running victory at Keeneland second time out. His maiden win was at this distance under Friday’s rider Jose Ortiz, and he looks like a solid contender if he can back up that number.
#10 Jackie’s Warrior (7-2) tracked the pace and smartly pulled clear in his five panel debut June 19. He shows five local moves for this and might be another good one for Steve Asmussen.
#6 Cazadero (5-2) is 2-for-2 for Steve Asmussen, and I really like his early-pressing versatility. He dueled and kicked well clear in his five panel bow at Churchill, and stalked and easily scored as the strong favorite in the Bashford Manor (G3) second time out. He drew perfectly in the middle and could easily make it three straight.
#7 Momos (6-1) is the only entrant with a win at Saratoga, and he showed good early speed and ran off the screen in his debut that day.
#2 Hold the Salsa (20-1) and #8 Market Alert (20-1) earned decent late pace ratings in their winning debuts. One or both could make a late run at a minor award.
Wagers:
#9 to win
Exacta 9-10/6-9-10
Trifecta 6-7-9-10/6-7-9-10/2-8
Superfecta 9-10/6-9-10/2-6-7-8-9-10/2-8
Recent Best Bet Winners
July 24 - JO JO AIR ($9.20)
July 27 - HOOTIE ($7.80)
July 28 - GUILLAUME ($6.40), Exacta ($24.00)
July 31 - She's My Type/Miss J McKay Exacta ($41.80)
Aug 3 - Peaceful Feeling/Be Nimble Exacta ($43.40), Trifecta ($59.65)
Aug 6 - Thissmytime/Bimini/Time to Two Step Trifecta ($25.85)