by Rich Nilsen
On just a few select days of the year I put out a selection sheet. It’s a way of producing some revenue for AGOS, helping many of the visitors of this site and doing so in a very affordable fashion. This past Travers Day (2017) I did an analysis for the full card, all 13 races. Along with pace scenarios for each race, I provide top selections and a few spot plays, which are my best bets with wagers. Even though I missed the featured Travers, it was the type of day I would take anytime. With 6 winners on top from 13 races, along with two out of three Spot Plays (Best Bets) scoring, I was very pleased with the results.
Unfortunately, there was one race in particular, the G1 Ballerina S. that I really messed up on and I was very disappointed in myself. I always analyze the pace when dissecting a race, and there was clearly a lack of early speed types in this 7 furlong affair. Given that this was a Grade 1 race for sprinters, the lack of early pace was unusual to say the least. Races where you can’t really figure out who is going to get the lead are some of the toughest to handicap and find the winner.
I finally came to the conclusion that top gate rider and leading Saratoga jockey Jose Ortiz would put Paulassilverling on the front end, giving her an excellent chance of extending her graded stakes win streak to four races. But therein lied the rub. The 5yo mare had run three times this year, since April, and each and every race resulted in a gritty, close win. She won the G1 Madison by a neck, then followed that up with another neck victory in the G1 Humana Distaff over a sloppy going. She returned at Saratoga for trainer Chad Brown and gutted out another neck victory in the G2 Honorable Miss.
Brown didn’t work the Ghostzapper mare for 17 days after that win, but gave her two modest half-mile drills in preparation for this race. Horses are not machines, and Paulassilverling was a prime candidate to regress off three hard races since returning as an older mare. That’s exactly what happened. Despite a favorable pace scenario, Paulassilverling failed to get the early lead and “came up empty.” She beat only two horses in the field of seven as the lukewarm favorite of 5/2. Hard races, especially in succession, take its toll.
After owning horses for 10 years, one of the major things I learned is that horses are way more than the speed ratings, figs and past performances that you see in the ‘Form.’ It helps to look at them as what they are: living, breathing athletes who are affected the same way from competing that other athletes are affected. When you add that into your handicapping, you improve your game.
copyright 2017 Equibase Brisnet.com
