posted February 28, 2008 at 15:40 in Triple Crown Betting Trends

Huge day at Santa Anita this Saturday! The Grade III Shame Stakes is one of the BetUS highlighted 3-year old prep races of the weekend. The Grade I Santa Anita Handicap is one of the most competitive and important races of the year.

Let’s get to it!

Grade III Sham Stakes

Santa Anita Park - - Arcadia, CA

1 1/8th miles on cushion track

This sort of sets up as a match-race between El Gato Malo and Colonel John. Nobody else in this field is close to those two in terms of ability. Then again, these are three-year olds and three-year olds have a tendency to blossom quickly from race to race. That’s why I’m picking the John Shirreff’s trained Reflect Times. Times finished third to Coast Guard and Crown of Thorns in his last race. He was undefeated going into that race, but had trouble closing that day. Still, he finished best of the rest and should improve for a trainer known for getting horses better from race to race. Shirreff’s trained Giacomo to a Kentucky Derby win a few years ago. I’m going to tab Colonel John for the second spot. The distance is right up his alley and he already has shown that he likes the cushion track. El Gato Malo is definitely a good horse, but I’m looking at a bounce in this race. So for third my money will be on Coast Guard. Coast Guard is improving steadily for trainer David Hoffmans and gets Rafael Bejarano again. Coast Guard will be a serious racehorse once he figures out what he’s doing.

1. Reflect Times

2. Colonel John

3. Coast Guard

Grade I Santa Anita Handicap

Santa Anita Park - - Arcadia, CA

1 ¼ miles on cushion track

I see a stand-out in this race. Since Monterrey Jazz has switched tactics from simply stalking the pace to going out and running them into the ground, he has gone 3 for 3. I think he will make it 4 to 4 in this race. The only other speed is Air Commander who is stuck out in post 14. That means that Moneterrey Jazz gets things all his own way up the back-stretch and to the half-mile pole. Jazz is a brilliant horse. He ran 6 furlongs in 1:08 going 1 18th miles in his last race and managed to win by 4.5 lengths. Amazing. No matter what the odds are, Monterrey Jazz is an absolute stand-out in the Santa Anita Handicap. It’s going to be tough to find the second place finisher since after Monterrey Jazz all of these horses look the same to me. I’m going with Champs Elysees because of his trainer and back-class. Turf to dirt usually works for Bobby Frankel. Let’s hope it will on Saturday! For third, good old Awesome Gem looks like a nice bet. But Go Between can definitely do something in this race. I’m using both.

1. Monterrey Jazz

2. Champs Elysees

3. Awesome Gem

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