America’s Best Racing and handicapper (and avid gambler) Monique Vág team up to provide horseplayers with their best bets of the weekend. Vág will identify her top picks as well as at least one longshot play of the weekend, a nice opportunity to swing for the fences on a win bet or to take a shot with a show bet. She also will occasionally look for strong exacta plays for the weekend or try to spot a nice opportunity for other wagers. This Weekend’s Bets
Category: Horse Racing News
Friday’s Stronach 5 Pool Guaranteed At $100,000
Competitive fields and a $100,000 guaranteed pool highlight Friday's Stronach 5.
The popular wager will feature three races from Laurel Park – all scheduled on the turf – and two from Gulfstream Park. The Stronach 5, with an industry-low 12-percent takeout, begins at 3:23 p.m. with a field of 10 claimers in Laurel's sixth race going 5 ½ furlongs on the Fort Marcy Turf Course.
The sequence ends a little more than an hour later with a dozen 3-year-olds and up in Laurel's eighth race going 1 1/16 miles once again on the Fort Marcy Turf Course.
Gulfstream's eighth race is the only race in the sequence on the main track and will serve as the second leg in the sequence while Gulfstream's ninth race, the fourth leg in the sequence, is scheduled for five furlongs on the turf.
All-Star Ticket: https://www.xbtv.com/video/workout/stronach-5-all-star-ticket-for-july-24th-2020/
Friday's races and sequence
· Leg One – Laurel Park 6th Race: (10 entries, 5 ½ furlongs turf) 3:23 ET, 12:23 PT
· Leg Two –Gulfstream Park 8th Race: (7 entries, 1 mile) 3:40 ET, 12:40 PT
· Leg Three –Laurel Park 7th Race: (9 entries, 1 mile turf) 3:59 ET, 12:59 PT
· Leg Four –Gulfstream Park 9th Race: (12 entries, 5 furlongs turf) 4:14 ET, 1:14 PT
· Leg Five –Laurel Park 8th race: (12 entries, 1 1/6 mile turf) 4:33 ET, 1:33 PT
Fans can watch and wager on the action at 1/ST.COM/BET as well as stream all the action in English and Spanish at LaurelPark.com, SantaAnita.com, GulfstreamPark.com, and GoldenGateFields.com.
The Stronach 5 In the Money podcast, hosted by Jonathan Kinchen and Peter Thomas Fornatale, will be posted by 2 p.m. Thursday at InTheMoneyPodcast.com and will be available on iTunes and other major podcast distributors
The minimum wager on the multi-race, multi-track Stronach 5 is $1. If there are no tickets with five winners, the entire pool will be carried over to the next Friday.
If a change in racing surface is made after the wagering closes, each selection on any ticket will be considered a winning selection. If a betting interest is scratched, that selection will be substituted with the favorite in the win pool when wagering closes.
The Maryland Jockey Club serves as host of the Stronach 5.
The post Friday’s Stronach 5 Pool Guaranteed At $100,000 appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
Laura’s Light Tops Competitive Field Of 11 In Saturday’s San Clemente Stakes
The 53rd edition of the Grade II San Clemente Stakes – a key stepping stone to the Grade I Del Mar Oaks on August 22 – goes Saturday at Del Mar and has drawn a competitive field of 11 3-year-old fillies for the one-mile test on the lawn.
The likely favorite in the $150,000 San Clemente is Gary Barber's Laura's Light, a bay daughter of the hot young sire Constitution who has won four of her six lifetime starts and comes into the turfer off a tally in the Grade III Honeymoon Stakes at Santa Anita on May 30. That race was at nine furlongs on the grass and she held on to win by a neck under rider Abel Cedillo, who rides back Saturday for trainer Peter Miller.
Laura's Light's chief rivals appear to be a pair of stakes winners in Benjamin and Sally Warren's Warren's Showtime, who'll be handled by regular rider Jorge Velez, and the Florida shipper Cheermeister, who is owned by Teresa and David Palmer and gets the saddle services of Victor Espinoza.
Warren's Showtime, the lone California-bred in the field, is a daughter of Clubhouse Ride and runs out of the barn of conditioner Craig Lewis. She took the state-bred Melair Stakes at Santa Anita on the main track on June 21 in her most recent appearance. She's won five of her 10 outings.
Cheermeister, who is by Bodemeister, won a pair of graded turf stakes at Gulfstream Park earlier this year and will be making her first start since May 15. Trainer Armando De La Cerda has guided the quick lassie to four victories in seven starts, all but one of them on the lawn. She has been training steadily in Florida since her last out.
The San Clemente is one of three stakes on the Saturday card at Del Mar, the others being the $150,000, Grade II San Diego Handicap and the $65,000 Smiling Tiger Stakes.
Here's the complete field for the San Clemente in post position order with riders and morning line odds:
Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners' She's So Special (Flavien Prat, 5-1); DRJ Racing and Great Friends Stable's Lazy Daisy (Giovanni Franco, 20-1); Laura's Light (3-1); Batchelor Family Trust's Over Attracted (Mike Smith, 15-1); Red Barons Barn or Rancho Temesca's Croughavouke (Umberto Rispoli, 6-1); Cheermeister (6-1); Next Wave Racing, Baltas or Robershaw's Little Bird (Ruben Fuentes, 15-1); Gainesway Stable, LNJ Foxwoods or Rose's Mind Out (Brice Blanc, 15-1); Warren's Showtime (7/2); Benowitz Family Trust and Madaket Stable's Guitty (Juan Hernandez, 20-1), and Medallion Racing, Next Wave Racing, et al's Applecross (Drayden Van Dyke, 12-1).
The San Clemente will be the 9th of 11 races on the Saturday program.
First post all afternoons at Del Mar is 2 p.m.
The post Laura’s Light Tops Competitive Field Of 11 In Saturday’s San Clemente Stakes appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
Nijinsky’s King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes Win Celebrated With QIPCO Diamonds And Pearls Award On 50th Anniversary
Each year, to mark QIPCO's sponsorship of the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes, the winner of a vintage renewal is commemorated. To honor his illustrious achievements and victory in the race 50 years ago, Nijinsky became the latest recipient of the QIPCO Diamonds & Pearls award, won last year by Nashwan.
The son of Northern Dancer had already captured the 2000 Guineas, the Epsom Derby and the Irish Derby, and started at odds of 40-85 for Ascot's 1970 renewal. Nijinsky, the only 3-year-old in the field, cruised past his rivals on the bridle and defeated the previous year's Derby winner, Blakeney, to win the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes by an effortless two lengths.
Owned by Charles W. Engelhard Jr., trained by Vincent O'Brien and partnered by jockey Lester Piggott, Nijinsky went on to win the St Leger, and in doing so, became the first racehorse in 35 years to win the Triple Crown. A feat which no colt has matched since.
Following his impressive racing career, Nijinsky went on to stand at stud in the U.S. where he sired 155 stakes/group winners and remains the only sire to have the winner at the Kentucky and Epsom Derbies in the same year (1986 – Ferdinand & Sharastani). His notable progeny include King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes winners Ile de Bourbon (1978) and Lammtarra (1995).
Lester Piggott, retired jockey, said;
“I am delighted to receive the QIPCO Diamonds and Pearls award. Nijinsky was a wonderful horse and was unbeaten at the time. There was a lot of hype going into the King George – the opposition was decent, they were good horses, every one of them had a chance. You had all the best – obviously we thought he would win. He came to the other horses in the straight so easily, it was hard to believe really but he won in a canter. It was a wonderful win and was probably the best performance of his career.”
The post Nijinsky’s King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes Win Celebrated With QIPCO Diamonds And Pearls Award On 50th Anniversary appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
