Horse owner, breeder and HRTV analyst Jeff Siegel also happens to be Southern California's premier handicapper. Check his blog each day before you play!
Handicapping, in short, refers to analyzing the race to come up with best predicted outcome, or pick. There are many angles when it comes to picking a winner. Using some of the help from the professional handicappers below, you can determine your own angle on placing a bet. For more information on how to bet or wager, click here.
A nice $48,433 Pick-6 carryover spices up a deep and competitive Saturday program.
Tizmetizyou didn’t get the best of runs in her debut but with better luck in today’s opener the daughter of Tiz Wonderful looks capable of earning her diploma. She continues to look sharp in the morning for Koriner and this extended sprint distance should be perfect for her style. Based strictly on pedigree, conventional dirt should be her best surface.
In the Friday opener, Oscillator has been knocking on the door and is overdue for a win. Her one prior effort over conventional dirt wasn’t bad, and the Periban-trained filly has several back speed figures that are good enough to beat this field. She switches to Maldonado and should draft into an ideal pace prompting position. We’ll put the daughter of Decarchy on top, but also include in our rolling exotics Cuvee Exchange, an impressive debut winner for Sadler with a good figure but coming back quickly (12 days).
The Thursday opener finds Tiz a Minister looking very much like a no-value single at 4/5 on the morning line. A closing fourth in the King Glorious Stakes last month at Hollywood Park, the Aguirre-trained colt surfaces in a starter’s allowance (nw-2) event and should out class this group. A repeat of his highly rated maiden win two runs back would be more than good enough.
The second week concludes with a good Sunday card and an excellent feature race marking the return of the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint winner Mizdirection.
Fire With Fire has been facing tougher of late but drops into a realistic spot in the opener and seems capable of returning to winning form. His recent speed figures are strong and a repeat of his race before last probably is good enough to beat this field. His morning line odds of 4-1 seem to be about right.
The Saturday program offers two major stakes races and a number of challenging wagering opportunities.
Diamond Flush missed by a neck in a similar affair across town but didn’t earn much of a figure in the process. At least it was a step in the right direction, so with further improvement the Hess-trained filly should be a factor in the first race opener, a modest affair. Supercilious rates top billing. She’s a first-time-in-a-claimer play with competitive figures and she didn’t run badly in her only prior outing on conventional dirt.
This is a tough, challenging card with several races appearing wide open.
In the opener, Miner’s Daughter is the best of the proven element, having finished in the money in her last pair with rapidly improving speed figures. Second in a fast, highly-rated affair across town last month, the Baffert-trained mare should be a short price to graduate. We’ll also use the hot first timer, Regime, working smartly for Gaines and landing Bejarano.
