Weekend Winners Club

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Saturday, August 17, 2019. The Del Mar summer meet has a big day with the featured Pacific Classic G1 and several graded stakes on the undercard, including Del Mar Handicap G2 and two races for 3yo fillies: the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks on turf, and Torrey Pines G3 on dirt.
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While it’s true that most of the top horses are Easterly located as usual, especially with the Saratoga meet going on, some of the best are congregating at Del Mar and since the Pac Classic offers a Breeders’ Cup Classic berth to the winner, some East Coast horses have shipped over.
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Seeking the Soul is perhaps the favorite and already has his BCC berth after winning the Stephen Foster G2 his last race, 2 months ago at Churchill, but Dallas Stewart is happy to run him for the money. Pavel could also be the favorite, also shipping west after a 3rd in the Suburban G2 at Belmont.
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The 3rd ML choice is Quip, also shipping west after a narrow loss in the Foster by a ¼ length. Without a lot of speed in this race, Rudy Brisset looks for him to get the lead midway and hold on to it this time.
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For the Top and War Story like to run early but only the latter appears to have the ability to hit the board here. Neither would be likely to hold on to a win for 10 furlongs.
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Higher Power, Draft Pick, and Mongolian Groom are the others most likely to be part of the early pace scenario, and it would be shocking to not see at least one of them finish in the money.
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Tenfold and Campaign will try to close late behind Pavel and Seeking the Soul, but the pace scenario today doesn’t seem to set up very well for them on paper.
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Get the Del Mar Grid here to follow along with the races and paces.
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The Del Mar Oaks G1 seems like a wide open race, with 14 fillies of similar abilities going 9f on the beautiful turf course. Camber Parc has been solid this year and deserves the favoritism that she is getting on the morning line, and has top Stamina and Power in the Grid.
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But we’re not here to bet on favorites. Leave that to other sites who can claim they gave you winners 33% of the time because they picked favorites. Unlike when we told you Country House had top LP in the Kentucky Derby and thus was an automatic WPS bet, which at 60-1 always pays well.
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Raymundo’s Secret filly is very interesting here. 2 lifetime starts in Jan and July gave her 6 and 5 length wins and PF which is only 2 points lower than the top mark in the field. Top EP in the Grid is a good sign as well as she will look to extend that to 9f.
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So who has this top PF that we speak of? Front running Keeper of the Stars, also at 10-1 ML and with 2nd best EP, set the mark 2 races back with a OCM win. The lack of early speed in this race could set up for a big one by the only true front runner here.
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If it does unfold right for the late runners, Lady Prancealot has the top LP and best chance of hitting the board. Wildlife would also appreciate such a scenario.
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But alas it looks like a battle of early runners in this one, so we’ll put Mucho Unusual in with Keeper, Cambier, and Raymudos for the top picks. Hard Legacy and Maxim Rate will fill out the exotics along with the wild card Hidden Message in her first American race.
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The Torrey Pines looks a bit wide open as well, but in a 8f race with several frontrunners in it, why not go with the top LP fillies? Classic Fit 3-1, Into Chocolate at 10-1, and Colonial Creed at 8-1. I also like Hollywood Hills, tied for the top PF in her first dirt race last out, at 12-1.
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Still it’s hard to conceive the 2 front running favorites finishing off the board, Sneaking Out and Fighting Mad, but overall a good betting race for an 8 horse field.
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In the Del Mar Handicap at 11f on turf, it’s unusual to like front runners, but in a field almost completely devoid of speed, I’d like to put the best 3 EP horses together including long shots Ritzy AP and Acclimate. Isitinthepost will likely be the favorite and can’t conceivably not hit the board.
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It’s a late afternoon card, so the racing will start at 2pm local time and 5pm Eastern. That gives you plenty of time to download the free Grid and get ready to kick some ass. Good luck!

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