The Vosburgh has drawn a field of seven, with a pair of top favorites in the form of El Deal (6-5 in the morning line odds) and Mr. Crow (2-1). El Deal is a five-year-old Kentucky bred who has won nine of 16 races lifetime, and goes into the Vosburgh on the heels of his first Grade 1 score, taking the Alfred G. Vanderbilt at Saratoga Race Course this past summer.
He led that one from out of the gate, and set fast fractions throughout, eventually pulling away in the straight and cruising to a seven-length win.
Somewhat at the other end of the spectrum, Mr. Crow is a three-year-old colt trained by Todd Pletcher, who will be making only his fourth lifetime start and first stakes try. He draws a lot of interest and low ML odds off the strength of two impressive wins at the maiden and allowance levels. He broke his maiden on his second try at Saratoga, winning a six-furlong race by more than 11 lengths, and followed that up with a 6 1/2 length score at the end of August, also at Saratoga.
Taking them on and breaking from the middle of the gate is Takaful (5-1) whose connections had their eyes on the Triple Crown series at the beginning of the year, running him in a pair of Kentucky Derby preps where he failed to make an impression. He's had better success since turning back to sprint distances, picking up a win two starts back in an allowance race at Saratoga, and running second behind the well-regarded Practical Joke in the (G1) Allen Jerkens Stakes.
If he can stay close enough early, he should be able to pick up part of the money.
Breaking from the inside gate, Stallwalkin' Dude (8-1) is a Florida-bred graded-stakes winner who finished second in the 2016 Vosburgh, and seems to do all of his best running on the Belmont Park track. He has the ability to come from off the pace and with one big run on the leaders, and although he lacks the overall speed of the top ones here, that style might be good enough to get him into the exotics picture.
The Vosburgh Invitational is race #7 on the Saturday card at Belmont, and is expected to go at 4:04 PM Eastern. It preceeds the (G1) Joe Hirsch Turf Classic, which is another race offering an automatic entry into the Breeders' Cup Turf to the winner, and one of four graded-stakes races on the day. You can bet the Vosburgh, the Joe Hirsch and the full Belmont card through the Today's Tracks link at your favorite online racebook.
Category : Betting Picks
Tag : Breeders Cup , Horse Betting
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