Rinaldi, winning in Saratoga in July 2019.
Rinaldi, winning in Saratoga in July 2019.NYRA / Chelsea Durand

Friday at Saratoga: God's Tipster has 5 race picks including the Forbidden Apple Stakes and two longshots

With today's picks, the jockeys are more famous than the trainers.

Thursday’s Recap from Saratoga:

(All odds US)

Replays for today’s races from Saratoga can be found here:

Race 2: 4th@ 6.20/1

Race 3: 6th@ 1.90/1

Race 4: SCRATCH

Race 7: 5th@ 4.20/1

Race 9: 3rd@ 18.00/1

It’s always nice to kick off Saratoga. We didn’t get a winner on the day. In Race 2, Zmuda finished a non-threatening 4th. St. Joe Louis never fired in Race 3. We scratched in Race 4 after they took us off turf. Chad Brown disappointed us again in Race 7, where after a stumbling start and some trouble early, Southern District never got rolling.

We look to get on the board on Friday’s card at Saratoga where we expect similarly fast and firm conditions. Here we go:

Friday Picks for Saratoga:

Race 5: Yes I’m Evil - 1 pt win (US Morning Line Odds: 7/2)

Claimers run a distance of 1 1/8 miles here and Bentley Combs isn’t a trainer I'm very familiar with but he trains this runner and has a record of three starts with a win, a second and a third from three route starts on dirt here at Saratoga. He’s laid this one off since April at Keeneland and this one seems like he’s been well spotted for this with a consistent work tab. 18% trainer chooses his spots wisely.

Race 7: Mused - 2 pts win - BEST BET (US MORNING LINE ODDS: 6/1)

Turf sprinters take center stage here and trainer Eddie Kenneally is only 9% on the year but at Saratoga wins with 2 of 9 starters for a nice 22% win percentage. He gets the services of jockey Javier Castellano here and Mused is coming from races at Churchill Downs that were much more challenging than similar races being run around the country by other runners in this group. She’s got the class and fits very well with these, she’s been working well and her trainer's 9% overall record will scare some away but this is where he excels.

Readers of Bettors Insider are getting a bonus preview of my day’s selections. To sign up for daily emails with the day’s FULL selections and weekly Saturday videos, click here.

Race 8: Riding on a Winner - 1 pt win (US Morning Line Odds: 15/1)

One of two big bombs on the day, this runner is trained by Orlando Noda who won race 3 on opening day here at Saratoga. Trainer Noda has won with 29% of his dirt sprinters and this runner gets the services of jockey Jose Ortiz with whom Noda wins an astonishing 33% of the time. Those two paired up to win 3 of 5 races together at Saratoga last season. This runner was wide last out and gets blinkers on for the first time today. Bombs away!

Race 9: Rinaldi - 1 pt win (US Morning Line Odds: 9/2)

Today’s stakes race is the Forbidden Apple Stakes – Grade 3 on turf and Rinaldi has the controlling speed from the rail. A dangerous thing on this inner turf course but even more dangerous when you look up trainer James Bond’s statistics and see that he’s won 3 of 8 turf stakes he’s raced in over the last 5 years for a 38% win percentage. Two of those wins were actually Rinaldi’s wins. This runner is 3 for 4 on this course and is an undefeated 3 for 3 with Luis Saez in the irons on this surface.

Race 10: Strong Moment - 1 pt win - (US Morning Line Odds: 30/1)

Turf sprinters close out today’s card and Strong Moment is our “other” bomb for the day. This runner has shown some early speed without much staying power in her three starts to date but her trainer’s 25% win percentage here at Saratoga with turf sprinting maidens is hard to overlook. As are the 30/1 odds this one totes. I’m hoping “blinkers on” does the trick for this runner.

Best of luck 🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀to everyone playing Friday’s races from Saratoga!

Related Stories

No stories found.
Bettors Insider
www.bettorsinsider.com