8/30: Saratoga (Woodward Day)

[ScottJ]

The positioning of the Bernard Baruch as the fifth race could not be more of a puzzler today. By having Wise Dan figure into both the early Pick 4 and Pick 5 sequences, you are forced to play one set of tickets backing the big horse for all he has achieved on the turf going one mile, but also need to handicap the race a second time assuming Wise Dan either folds his tent in the final sixteenth or does not show up after all his health problems. To me, this "double play" will force some tighter handicapping (and less spreading) earlier in these sequences.