As previously noted, the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga kicks-off on Thursday, June 6th.
And while the regular Saratoga meet doesn’t begin until Thursday July 11th the Daily Racing Blog would like to think that some of The Spas tricks and trends will hold true in June as well as five weeks later.
That said, here are five money-making tips that can help you Win at Saratoga based on the Winning track profile and best running styles and Post Positions in various types of races.
1) The main track at Saratoga is speed favoring at all distances. The speed bias is especially prevalent in races at six furlongs and shorter, particularly with two-year-olds. Early speed horses on the pace or within a length of the lead at the first call have Won nearly 50 percent of all dirt sprints shorter than six furlongs. Pressers and the occasional stalker tend to win the rest. Speedsters and pressers also do very well at the commonly run distance of six furlongs.
2) At Saratoga, favor route horses that do their best running around two turns – and at 1 1/8 miles – as opposed to one mile or 1 1/16 miles. Look at Past Performances and bet horses whose best route races came on more traditional two-turn layouts such as Aqueduct, Gulfstream, Churchill, Keeneland, the mid-Atlantic region, or in past races at Saratoga. This is particularly true if a horse has run past races around two turns at 1 1/8 miles.
3) Downgrade the three inside posts in turf sprints, particularly the rail, while upgrading horses drawing far outside posts. This is mainly important in large turf sprint fields with more than eight runners. Combine this with some good handicapping and your turf sprint ROI should soar at the four day Festival. Even with no handicapping at all, you can blindly box the outside three or four horses in turf sprints with more than nine runners and still do pretty darn good.
4) Outside posts are negative factors on the Saratoga turf courses in routes to varying degrees. Posts 8 and outward are slight disadvantages on both turf courses at most distances, while far outside posts 10-12 are usually poor bets. The inside three posts can offer a good advantage to horses running on the inner turf course at the distances of one mile and 1 1/16 miles.
5) In Saratoga grass route races, early speed generally is not an advantage. The pace profile of the average turf Winner at Saratoga is a horse that is roughly about four lengths off the pace at the first call and 2 1/2 lengths off the pace at the second call. Hold more strictly to this pace preference on the Mellon (outer) course.
Try these trends in the various types of races during the Festival at Saratoga, and you’ll have a solid framework that will enable you to cash tickets throughout the four day meet.
