God's Tipster's Saturday Aqueduct Picks: Stakes racing with the Demoiselle, Remsen, Go For Wand, Cigar Mile
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Fridays Race Recap from Aqueduct:
(All odds US)
Replays for yesterday’s races from Aqueduct can be found here:
Aqueduct:
Race 3: 3rd@ 13.10/1
Race 8: 2nd@ 2.30/1
Race 9: SCRATCH
In Race 3, jockey Luis Rodriguez had Keen Dancer well behind and didn’t move a muscle on her until the race was practically over. Once he finally began flailing his arms and hustling her she came with a furious late rally to grab third place missing the 13/1 win by a fast diminishing neck and galloped out well ahead of the field in a particularly nauseating way to begin our day. In Race 8 Curlin’s Wisdom gave us yet another silver medal for our trophy case finishing second and beating the favorite after stalking the early pace. We had a scratch in Race 9.
As we wind down 2022 let’s get to one final weekend of solid graded stakes action from Aqueduct. We’ve got four stakes races carded: the Grade 1 Cigar Mile, the Grade 2 Remsen, the Grade 2 Demoiselle and the Grade 3 Go for Wand. Each race has a lengthy history of hosting current and producing future champions. We’ve got some shorter prices today than the last few. We are expecting rain tomorrow so bring your umbrella and strap on your galoshes and let’s get to the action !
Saturday at Aqueduct:
Race 4: Callaloo - 1 pt win (US Morning Line Odds: 5/1)
Maiden claimers bred in New York sprint 6 1/2 furlongs to kick off our Saturday. There’s a fair amount of speed signed on here and that should set up for someone to rally from behind. Unlike nearly everyone else in this field, Callaloo has only made one career start and closed strongly for fifth after dropping 17 lengths behind by the 1/2 mile pole. His final fractions that day were 12.22 and 11.76 which is extremely fast for this group. He steps up slightly in class and should have the right pace setup for his closing kick.
Race 6: Julia Shining - 2 pts win - BEST BET (US Morning Line Odds: 3/5)
The Grade 2 Demoiselle for two year old fillies at a mile and an eighth. There’s not much in this race and Julia Shining looks to take a lot of attention at the windows but she looks much the best based on her sparkling debut effort. Sent off at 2/1 against a field of 11, she dropped back early but when she was asked for run she came with an explosive turn of foot. She’s full sister to 6 time Grade 1 winner Malathaat, who also won the Demoiselle when she was a two year old, along with the Kentucky Oaks as a three year old and the Breeder’s Cup Distaff as a four year old. Should be tough to beat in this spot.
Race 7: Tuskegee Airmen - 1 pt win (US Morning Line Odds: 8/5)
The Grade 2 Remsen at a mile and an eighth for two year olds is our next Stakes race of the afternoon. Tuskegee Airmen squares off against Arctic Arrogance and cases can be made for both of those runners who were impressive in their most recent starts. In an interview with Daily Racing Form, John Servis, the trainer of Tuskegee Airmen mentioned that his runner has major talent just hasn’t quite put it all together mentally yet. Last time out he looked beaten on the far turn as the odds on favorite but he was just having fun out there and still ended up winning by 3. I’m not convinced Arctic Arrogance wants to go this far so I’m going to hope the talented Tuskegee Airmen can put it all together and remain undefeated after Saturday’s Remsen. He already owns the field’s top speed figure and if he can do that without knowing what he’s even doing, that’s pretty impressive. He won his debut like a good horse and I’m looking forward to seeing what this runner can do on next year’s Triple Crown trail.
Race 8: Exotic West - 1 pt win (US Morning Line Odds: 20/1)
The Grade 3 Go for Wand is a one mile race on the main track for fillies and mares. Battle Bling is likely to be one of our favorites and deserves to be after winning her last three starts including two stakes. Exotic West is an interesting alternative to the favorite that should offer some value. A winner of 3 of 5 Aqueduct starts, 2 of 3 on a wet track and an undefeated 2 for 2 at today’s one mile distance, Exotic West actually defeated Battle Bling earlier this year right on this surface in the Top Flight Invitational. She didn’t like Saratoga this year and was probably overmatched in two starts there but I’d give her a long look as she gets back to her preferred surface.
Race 9: Zandon - 1 pt win (US Morning Line Odds: 1/1)
The Grade 1 Cigar Mile is the last Grade 1 event in New York for the year and what the race lacks in quantity well, it also lacks in quality. I’ll be honest, this is a rough field for a Grade 1 event. It’s probably more like a Grade 3 but we do get an interesting matchup between Mind Control, who’s making his final career start at the age of 6, and Zandon who was one of this year’s top three year olds. Zandon is the selection here. He shows up every time and while he’s only got two wins to show for it, his efforts in defeat are just as impressive as his wins, if not more so. Super trainer Chad Brown is winning at 29% for the meet and has been targeting this race since the Pennsylvania Derby. The odds won’t be huge but if you can lock in 1/1 with your bookmakers, do it!
Best of luck to all of our members playing Saturday’s races from Aqueduct!