Tip of the Week: Everything But the Kitchen Sink

Khaleesi Kat won impressively on opening day at Saratoga Race Course on July 24. (Photo by Adam Coglianese/NYRA)
In so many ways, handicapping is a grand guessing game with the lure of a handsome payoff at the cashier’s window as the reward for success.
Horses are not machines that turn in the same performance time after time. So even if you scrutinize past performances for hours, there are times when it makes sense to look at the leaves at the bottom of the tea cup to get some insight into the intentions of a horse’s connections.
In the third race at Saratoga Race Course on July 24, Khaleesi Kat seemed a reasonable option to win the $40,000 maiden claiming affair on the opening-day card. The 3-year-old filly was listed at 6-1 odds on the morning line as she dropped in class from two starts in maiden special weight races for New York state-breds on turf into an open turf claiming race for her third career start.
Neither of those two starts was memorable for a positive reason as she clipped heels and fell in her May 17 career debut and then finished ninth on July 5.
On occasion, such a drop could reflect a stable’s diminishing interest in a horse. Yet in this instance there were a couple of signs that Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott was aiming for an improved performance against weaker company.
Aside from sticking with jockey Junior Alvarado, one of Mott’s preferred riders, the famed trainer also raced Khaleesi Kat on the medication Lasix (furosemide) for the first time. He even equipped her with blinkers for the race.
Clearly, Mott was pulling out all the stops, trying to sweeten the payoff for the filly’s owner. In the event someone claimed Khaleesi Kat, a win would net Niantic River Racing $27,000 from the $45,000 purse in addition to $40,000 from the claim.
As for the betting public, the traditionally savvy Spa handicappers also picked up on Mott throwing everything but the kitchen sink into his quest for a victory. They bet Khaleesi Kat down to a 7-2 second choice, and she responded to all of Mott’s tinkering by rocketing through the stretch and rallying from ninth at the quarter pole to win going away by two lengths.
Bettors collected $9.10 for their $2 win bets, while Mott and his owners took home the $27,000 in purse money and even kept the filly as no one put in a claim for her.
THE LESSON: When a successful trainer puts extra effort into coaxing an improved performance out of a horse, it often makes sense to head to the betting windows and ride along.