Betting the Stephen Foster Handicap on a Budget

Noble Bird (outside) looks to be a good bet in the Stephen Foster for those betting on a budget. (Photo by Eclipse Sportswire)
Saturday night will be electric at Churchill Downs for “Downs After Dark.” For starters, American Pharoah will be paraded on the track, as fans will get a chance to congratulate and admire the Triple Crown champion. A star-studded field for the Stephen Foster Handicap will serve as the feature for what should be a great evening of racing action. To wrap it all up, the winner of this race punches their ticket to the Breeders’ Cup Classic, as a part of the “Win and You’re in Series.” Without further ado, let’s figure out how to make some money.
The field is very top heavy and very competitive, with the likes of Lea, Commissioner and Hoppertunity bound to take most of the public’s money in the pools. But that leaves some big numbers to be played outside of those three. My pick for a price is Noble Bird. The 10-1 morning line odds are juicy, just juicy enough to throw a few dollars on him for a win and to include in your exotics. If he can sit off the pace like he did last time out in the Alysheba Stakes, I like his chances. The 1 1/8 mile distance is a little bit of a stretch for him, but trainer Mark Casse should have him conditioned to compete.
Lea, the morning line favorite, returns from the United Arab Emirates after duking it out in the Dubai World Cup and finishing a game third. I’m not ordinarily an advocate playing horses coming off a trip like that and a two month layoff, but his latest bullet workout at Saratoga suggests there may be some legs in this horse.
Finally, Commissioner’s resurgence in his past two races is nothing to sniff at. He cleared the wire first in the Pimlico Special, as well as the Skip Away Stakes. The dynamic duo of Javier Castellano and Todd Pletcher can’t be ignored. I think he continues to improve in this race. He will make some noise down the stretch and he could steal a victory here.
I’m going to group these three up in an exacta box and throw a couple dollars on Noble Bird, with the hopes of completing a very nice score. It would be the perfect way to pad the bankroll for a Saturday night out on the town.
Budget Betting Strategy
$2 Exacta Box
1,2,4 for a total of $12
$5 Win
4
$500,000 Stephen Foster Handicap
Saturday, Churchill Downs, Race 8, 9:42 p.m. ET
1 1/8 miles, 3-year-olds and older, dirt

PP

Horse

Jockey

Weight

Trainer

Owner

1

Commissioner (KY)

Javier Castellano

120

Todd Pletcher

WinStar Farm

2

Lea (KY)

Joel Rosario

120

Bill Mott

Claiborne Farm and Adele B. Dilschneider

3

Paganol (KY)

Robby Albarado

114

Chris Hartman

James and Ywachetta Driver

4

Noble Bird (KY)

Shaun Bridgmohan

116

Mark Casse

John Oxley

5

Hoppertunity (KY)

Mike Smith

121

Bob Baffert

Mike Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman

6

Majestic Harbor (KY)

Corey Lanerie

115

Paul McGee

Gallant Stables

7

Cat Burglar (KY)

Victor Espinoza

116

Bob Baffert

Michael Lund Petersen