Ellis Starr’s Blog

Jimmy Durante Stakes - Race 5 at Del Mar - Post Time 5:30 PM Eastern (2:30 Pacific) Javanica gets top billing in this mile turf stakes for two year olds. Stretching out to two turns on turf for her second career start in mid-September, Javanica put in a strong effort to rally from fifth and win. Moving to the all-weather at Woodbine for her next start, the filly cut back to one turn (seven furlongs) and was no match for the heavy favorite which won by four lengths but she still rallied nicely from last to second. Moving [...]

Red Smith Stakes - Race 9 at Aqueduct - Post Time 3:45 PM Eastern Ziyad, who almost won the Group 1 Grand Prix de Saint Cloud in June when well regarded at 4/1, was making his second ever start in North America last month in the Sycamore Stakes and was moving late when the wire came up, ending up beaten a head for second at 7 to 2. He’s not stepping up in class as that too was a grade three race and the distance is no concern as that was a mile and one-half, [...]

Laurel Futurity - Race 8 at Pimlico - Post Time 3:22 PM Eastern For multi-race wagers like the pick 3 and 4 there are two ways to go here. The first is to just use Hidden Enemy, which allows for using “ALL” in the next race for tickets started here or with this race as part of a sequence started in an earlier race. However, if you started a pick 3 in race 6 I would try to use ALL in this leg as there were only two horses to use in race seven and [...]

Noble Damsel Stakes - Race 8 at Belmont - Post Time 4:42 PM Eastern In this nine horse field (10 minus one entered for main track only), Sweet Bye and Bye is the one to beat and because the field is well balanced I believe she will go to post near her 7 to 2 starting odds, making her a KEY WIN BET on the day. She was six for 14 before going on the sidelines in January, then returning in August in the Tony Dutrow barn. The debut was a turf sprint and she [...]

Saturday's Races Race 8 at Woodbine - Post Time 5 PM Eastern This is not a stakes but it leads to the Ricoh Woodbine Mile, which is my Race of the Day play for Woodbine available HERE. So I think we can make some money on doubles and pick 3 tickets starting in this race. Mrs. Del won like a good thing last time out on 8/29. It doesn’t matter it took eight tries to win because this is a non-winners of two and all of these are one-for-something. The 93 Equibase figure tops the [...]