Well I hear you went up to Saratoga and your horse naturally won – Carly Simon
Last Saturday was Travers Day at Saratoga, the signature race for 3-year olds at the meet. This year’s edition featured a trio of top runners in Bayern, Tonalist and Wicked Strong. On paper, the race would go to one of those three contenders and the public bet it accordingly.
In deep stretch, it appeared that Wicked Strong would be the winner as he made a bold move to the lead at the 16th pole. But it was longshot V. E. Day at 19-1 who rallied to win by a nose at 19-1 with Javier Castellano aboard. The “uncoupled entry” angle was in play as both the winner and runner-up were trained by James Jerkins.
That selection was worth 615 points in the Saratoga Saturday’s contest, and was the only double-digit odds winner on a 14-race contest card. Congratulations to Ronald Burton, who won this week’s contest with 1,803 points on a day where the maximum available was 3,030. One would think he had to have tabbed V. E. Day as one of his selections.
I was in the group that believed the Travers winner would be one of the three favorites, so I tried to select the one I thought would be the highest odds. For me that was Tonalist, but he was only third best on this day. I couldn’t find a single winner, and checked in with 301 points for the week. Wedding – funeral scenario for me from last week to this week!
With one week to go, Jack Vesovich is leading the overall standings with 3,255 points. He finished 2nd last week with 1,658 points and is in very good position overall since his lowest score of the four weeks is 649 points. Since the lowest score gets dropped when calculating the overall score.
Good luck everyone in the final week! In addition to the Saratoga Saturday’s contest next week, it’s also the Ultimate Satellite Handicapping Contest. For a $50 entry fee, you could win a $550 entry into the Canterbury Ultimate NHC Qualifier on September 12. Play!
Jockey/Trainer ROI updated standings:
Denny Velasquez 1.42
Justin Shepherd 1.33
Ry Eikleberry 0.98
Bruce Riecken 1.88
Valorie Lund 1.07
Miguel Silva 0.98
I looked at the top 10 jockey and trainer standings based on wins, and posted the top 3 jockeys and trainers in terms of win ROI for the meet. These jockeys and trainers have rewarded the bettors who played their horses on a regular basis this summer at Canterbury Park. Trainer Bruce Riecken has really lit up the tote board this year!
The Oracle
