Hollywoodbets Neil Morrice brings us all of his best bets and tips for Saturday’s racing coming your way from Doomben, Morphettville and Gulfstream Park.
Click here for the individual venue summaries
Morrice agrees with Robert Kieckhefer, who writes in the UPI Horse Racing Weekend Preview, that Tiz the Law takes a prominent role in today’s loaded $750,000 GrI Curlin Florida Derby.
The feature wraps up Gulfstream’s series of preps for the 2020 Kentucky Derby which has been put back to 5 September.
Kieckhefer writes that the race drew 13 3-year-olds to tackle 9 furlongs and there are plenty of possibilities. Tiz the Law, however, seems to check a lot of the boxes.
Winner of the GrI Champagne Stakes at Belmont Park as a 2-year-old, he returns to action after an eventful trip in winning the Gr3 Holy Bull stakes over the same surface on 1 February.In that, he was checked, then impeded by rivals and still managed to track down pacesetting Ete Indien before spurting clear to win by 3 lengths. A lot is expected of the Constitution colt, trained by Barclay Tagg for Sackatoga Stable.
If the name Sackatoga Stable seems familiar, that’s the bunch that campaigned Funny Cide, winner of the 2003 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes. Tagg trained him, too.
However, as mentioned, the Florida Derby is loaded. Ete Indiene is back with a victory in the Gr2 Fountain of Youth to his credit since the Holy Bull defeat.
Two other Constitution colts, Gouverneur Morris and Independence Hall, also could crash the party with moderate improvement. And not much more than that would be enough to put several others right in the picture.
Normally, the Florida Derby is the final Sunshine State prep for the Kentucky Derby and its 100-40-20-10 points on the Churchill Downs leaderboard would be decisive in securing a spot in the Run for the Roses.
Not much is certain in this crazy year but 100 points should be a safe number.
Given the large, tough field, it makes sense to seek some expert guidance. So why not try Jude Feld’s ever-thoughful, usually entertaining thoughts about the Florida Derby and the rest of the weekend’s races. That would be at www.popejude.com
