8/20 (SAR): Saratoga Special (G2); Solomon Northup (L)
 

4th (2:41) Solomon Northup S.

5 1/2 Furlongs (Turf) | Open | 3 Year Olds Stakes | Purse: $70,000

1 Peace Town Leparoux J R 118 L
2 Wall Street Wonder Maragh R 118 L
3 Boots Ahead Desormeaux K J 118 L
4 Ask Joe Garcia Alan 118 L
5 Perfect Officer Dominguez R A 118 L
6 Hamazing Destiny Theriot H J II 118 L
7 Speight the Halo Prado E S 118 L
8 Affirmatif Velazquez J R 122 L



9th (5:31) Saratoga Special S. (G2)

6 1/2 Furlongs | Open | 2 Year Olds Stakes | Purse: $150,000

1 Thiskyhasnolimit Bridgmohan S X 118 L
2 China Velazquez J R 118 L
3 Zip Quik Leparoux J R 118 FTL
4 Flatter Than Me Albarado R J 118 L
5 Insightful Castellano J J 118 L
6 D' Funnybone Prado E S 118 L
7 Activity Report Theriot H J II 118 L
8 Tiny Woods Smith M E 118 L
9 Fearless Cowboy Garcia Alan 122 L

The Special looks pretty good from a betting standpoint. Lots of reasons to like some of these, and lots of reasons to not like the same ones.

The 2 California horses at 4-1 and 8-1 look very good to me.
I think Donovan really butchered this line. Bafferts horse will not be higher then 7-2, and might be the favorite at post time. Patrick's horse should also be bet, at least he's reasonable at 4-1 on him. 8-1 on Baffert is crazy IMO.

Richard Dutrow, Jr. First time after trainer switch on dirt over the last five years:

79-248 (32%) ROI: $2.17

I think D'Funnybone is going to win this race by a pole and the 8-1 morning line on Tiny Woods is a farce, he's going to get hammered at the windows.

NT

I don't envy Eric Donovan's job and I think he does a very good job but he seems to have a great deal of difficulty assessing shippers and their respective performances away from NY.

NT

I like him and he does a great job, but this line is wrong. You said it yourself. As for your other post with liking Dutrow in here, I dont. If Baffert losses, I think he at least has enough speed to set it up for the Biancone. The 4th place finisher of Tiny Woods maiden race came back to win Saturday, and Sadler is REALLY HIGH on the second place finisher.

What on earth does any morning line have to do with anything? Its one person's prediction of how the public bets. Does it really matter, and why are you even looking at it? Would you bet a horse because it is going off at 6/1 and it was 15/1 on the ML?

Great call NT

Nice call dude! I was about to post, when will Richard Dutrow win something at this meet. Well! Hope you scored out. Havent seen the race or payouts but hope you got your 8/1.

Thanks to both of you. Considering how much he was hammered in the multi-race pools it's a bit surprising that D'Funnybone paid as well as he did.

Always fun to see a 2YO performance like that at Saratoga.

NT

I hope you crushed it, I was live in the pick 3, I needed the 3,8. They both ran really bad. Tiny Wood's a lot worst. He is a dam quitter. I was shocked, 3 furlongs in Smith did not look comfortable.

Kind of ironic given the name and what Yang just did to Tiger! Both had big leads and blew it badly.