By Craig Spencer
Last weekend’s Breeders’ Cup should have been a profitable endeavor for me based on the success that my prior publication had, but my wagering strategy needs a little work. Here’s a summary by race of the winners compared to my “qualifiers”; qualifiers and the bets that would have been cashed using just the qualifiers are in red. [Read Craig’s BC Winning Profiles piece here]
Juvenile Turf – Foreign Shippers
So in the Juvenile Turf I suggested Commemorative and War Envoy from the foreign contingent and discussed that Hootenanny shouldn’t have a problem getting the distance from a breeding perspective but the time since his last race did cause me some concern.
Dirt Mile – last raced within 6 weeks, good last work a plus
Goldencents, Tapiture, Fed Biz were the suggested horses to consider. Pants On Fire also qualified winning prior race within 6 weeks and having a good last work, but I wasn’t in love with his recent form and didn’t suggest him to be one to consider.
Juvenile Fillies Turf – Group 1 exiters from Foreign shippers, Top 2 in last out and 60%+ top 3 finishes in their turf outs and last raced within 5 weeks with the Miss Grillo Stakes has been a key race for North American entrants
Osaila, Sunset Glow, Lady Eli, Tammy the Torpedo, Conquest Harlanate, and Isabella Sings were the suggested horses to consider. Prize Exhibit was a Euro shipper that was coming out of a Group 3 race and not a Group 1 as was prescribed for contenders:
Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff – Zenyatta and Beldame are key prep races, a race within 5 weeks is a plus, but either historical decent early or decent late pace presence required
Close Hatches, Untapable, Belle Gallantey, and Don’t Tell Shophia were the suggested horses. Iotapa did exit the Zenyatta (a key race that was called out) but hadn’t really shown good early or late foot so was not a win contender:
14 Hands Winery Juvenile Fillies – Last Race Graded Stakes Winner
By The Moon and Top Decile were the suggested horses. Wonder Gal and Feathered both exited second and third place finishes in the Frizette (called out key race). I still can’t make an argument for the winner even knowing she won.
Filly & Mare Turf – 1st or 2nd in G1 prep race within 35 days – unless Euro, and demonstrated early or late pace presence for North Americans)
Abaco, Dayatthespa, Emollient, Just The Judge, Dank, and Stephanie’s Kitten were the suggested horses:
DraftKings Filly & Mare Sprint – Thoroughbred Club of America winner or TCA top 3 with a good last work
Leigh Court and Stonetastic were the suggested horse to consider coming out of the Thoroughbred Club of America. Judy The Beauty definitely figured to be the one to upset the TCA exiters if that were to occur:
Turf Sprint – Track affinity – not surface affinity but track affinity
This one had a few qualifiers. Those were Ambitious Brew, Bobby’s Kitten, Home Run Kitten, Reneesgotzip, Sweet Swap, and Tightend Touchdown. Bobby’s Kitten continued the trend that requires track affinity at the host track for this race. No Nay Never figured to not need a specific track to race on considering his success all over the world on different configured courses:
Sentient Jet Juvenile – First or second place finish and shown strong early or late pace ability
Carpe Diem, Daredevil and Upstart were the qualifiers that were suggested to consider:
Longines Turf – G1 exiter within 5 weeks
Imagining, Flintshire, Main Sequence, Hangover Kid, and Chiquita were the horses to consider. Twighlight Express had been in the money on the grass 50% of the time, so he was not a qualifier based on the 60% track affinity hurdle rate. Telescope did not qualify because he ran third in a group 1 in his last start 73 days ago. The requirements were 1st or 2nd in a Grade/Group 1 within 35 days and be in the money 60%+ for all turf starts:
Xpressbet Sprint – Top 2 finisher in prep, track affinity or surface affinity if no starts at the track with a good last work
Fast Anna, Indianapolis, Seeking the Sherif and Work All Week were the ones suggested to consider. A reader of the article made me aware that Bourbon Courage also worked pretty fast leading into the race but was the only one working 3 furlongs that day at Keeneland so it didn’t show up in the top 3rd (1 ranked worker / 1 worker = 100%, need to be below 33.4% to be GLW). I won’t count it, but 34 and change is a pretty good work. Private Zone did not have a good last work but qualified on the other requirements. Secret Circle finished a close third in his prep, so just barely missed qualifying as a win contender:
Mile – G1 exiters
Suggested to consider Anodin, Karakontie, Toronado, and Trade Storm:
Classic – Awesome Again, Woodward, Jockey Club Gold Cup are the key races, top 3 finishers in prep that have track affinity or surface affinity if no starts at the track
Cigar Street, Bayern, Shared Belief, California Chromem Moreno and Majestic Harbor were the ones suggested to consider:
In Summary, the suggested horses finished first 10 times, second 8 times, third 5 times, fourth 3 times with 6 exactas, 3 trifectas, 1 superfecta, 6 doubles, 4 pick 3s, and 2 pick 4s.
Not too shabby, so how did I lose money? By talking myself out of Karakontie in the last minute before placing my late pick 4 wager on Saturday. I had noticed that Goldikova’s brother, Anodin, had soundly beaten Karokontie in their last race at Longchamp and I had originally casted my lot with Shared Belief and Zivo in the Classic. After Lukas’ 2 year-old filly went wire to wire in the Juvenile Fillies I thought I had better get Bayern on my ticket and decided to cut the Mile down to just Anodin and Toronado so I could save $12. That was costly, the $0.50 pick 4 paid $18,335 and I had the other 3 legs.
If I had just played the trifectas with my win contenders it would have been pretty profitable weekend. Had I boxed each race with just the contenders it would have cost $726 to play both days, and I would have cashed for $5,259. This is a great example of where the analysis and handicapping is solid but the plan of attack (wagering strategy) needs some work.
