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.
Bikini Bottom improved dramatically when dropped to his level in her second career start and a repeat of that effort in today’s opener should be good enough to handle this high priced maiden claiming filed of older state bred fillies and mares. A bullet blowout over the weekend should have her on edge, and Krigger stays aboard for O’Neill. At 4/5 on the morning line she offers no value in the straight pool, so we’ll be content to use her as a rolling exotic single.
Melanistic has been popular at the claim box lately and goes back to a previous trainer, Baltas, who re-claimed her after one race. She’s ambitiously placed in this first race allowance event but lands Bejarano and has numbers that make her a solid fit. Plus, she loves to win races. Sweetrayofsunshine also has been claimed in her last pair and today goes for Spawr (superior stats with this maneuver). She’s unbeaten in four outings over this main track and Krigger fits her perfectly. Both should be used in rolling exotic play; we’ll give the edge to Sweetrayofsunshine on top.
Memo to Kathy hits hard in these low level claiming sprints for fillies and mares and her late-running style always is effective at this extended sprint trip. The Spawr-trained mare retains Delgadillo in today’s opener while looking for her third straight score. The one to beat again is Rossi Reserve, beaten a head by ‘Kathy earlier this month. She has an edge in the tactical speed department and in a field without much zip she could take full advantage of a very favorable pace scenario. We’ll use both in our rolling exotics while preferring Rossi Reserve on top.
The Friday opener is a weak maiden claimer and might be best left alone. Those wishing to delve into the rolling exotics should consider singling Shackbamalama. He lands a cozy outside box, drops to his proper level, retains Pedroza and removes blinkers. Today looks like his day.
There’s not much depth to the Thursday opener. Wild Tony ran well when second (beaten a head) in a similar spot two races back and a repeat of that effort today puts him in the thick of things again. He should be on or near the lead throughout. In an empty field, we’ll make him a straight play and rolling exotic single.
