Saratoga Diary - Aug 17

Friday and Saturday we're pretty terrible days at the windows for me. I had just 2 winners on top total and for most of the races I didn't even have the winner among my top 3. The one that really got away was the bomb Eltish Star. She came out second overall in the field with my figures and I debated long and hard about her. I finally decided to go with the safer chalk Classic Moon. Classic Moon ran third and Eltish Star was completely forgotten at the windows.

Sunday was a much better day. I cast my lot with 4 Pletcher horses and he didn't do quite as well as I'd hoped going 4-1-1-1 with those. The one that really hurt was Etincelle who got ignored and went off at 9/1. Etincelle came with a furious rally in the lane to miss by two heads. Another stride or two and it would have been an excellent score.

It was a shame not to catch hold of the Citifest exacta and trifecta but two of my 4 plays for the box scratched out and I wasn't around to compensate for the changes. Hopefully Monday is more like Sunday than Saturday.

Spot Plays for Aug 17th

Race #2
$1 exacta box - Exhi/Successful Score/Indian Council =$6

Race #3
$25 Win - Gayego = $25

Race #7
$1 exacta box - Banker's Buy/Driven by Seattle/Top Lass/Sister's Speed =$12
$1 trifecta box - Banker's Buy/Driven by Seattle/Top Lass/Sister's Speed =$24

Race #8
$1 exacta box - Sixthirteen/I've Got Speed/Due Date =$6

Wagered - $73
Meet Balance = -$526.00 (-64.38%)

I'm overspending a bit today because I was so far below budget yesterday courtesy of the scratches. I'm not thrilled with many of the fields today. I know I'm playing 4 different races but they're the only ones I'd really consider today. Most days you're trying to narrow it down to only the plays where you think you have the best chance. Today I'm desperately looking for any good chance I can find.

The feature is a deep race and perhaps it's an error in judgement to leave off both Linda Rice horses but neither of them struck me as particularly strong. Awakino Cat got such a perfect setup last time it's hard to see a repeat of that here.

I think Gayego is a standout in race 3. I know it's not very interesting to play a 3-5 shot but when you're losing money at a near 65% clip solid winners begin to look like real value.

Best of luck to everyone today, it's a very tough card.