Making Money Betting American Pharoah in the Travers
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A Daily Double bet may be your best chance to make money with American Pharoah in the Travers this weekend. (Photo by Eclipse Sportswire)
With American Pharoah pegged as the 1-5 morning line favorite in Saturday's Travers Stakes at Saratoga, you’re going to be hard pressed to make a fair profit betting him to win. One of your best wagering tools available in a situation with a heavy favorite is the Daily Double bet. The strategy involves singling American Pharoah to win on the front or back end of a double, with the hopes that on the other race of the bet you have selected a set of horses that can win at a decent price.
The race that immediately precedes the Travers is the Sword Dancer Stakes and it’s the race we will have to attack in order to achieve our goal of profiting off of Pharoah’s expected romp. It’s a Grade 1, 1 ½-mile affair for turf horses that immediately precedes the Travers Stakes.
Three horses in the field have a good chance to win, and we’ll take a quick peek at each to examine their merits for inclusion on our ticket. Twilight Eclipse (No. 5) ran into trouble in the United Nations Stakes last out and he’s about as steady as they come on the grass. I think he could steal a win here. Red Rifle (4), going off as the likely favorite, won’t offer a great price, but he’s solid insurance. Flintshire (2) is a globetrotting grass specialist who has faired well on American turf. If he hits the wire first, we could have ourselves a decent payday. We won’t make a mint here, but this strategy will provide a decent chance to cash a little bit more than your average win ticket.
Additionally, by playing the double, you are also simplifying your strategy to simply looking for horses that can win. Therefore, you do not have to worry about which horses will scramble through Pharoah’s dust to get into second place. Also, by stretching out your bet over two races, you’ll get an added dose of anticipation as the horses prep for the Travers.
BudgetWagering Strategy:
$6 Double on Race 10: 2,4,5 /2
If you want to bet against the Triple Crown Champion, my counterpart Dan Tordjman has pegged a worthy strategy to play.
$1,250,000 Travers S.
Saturday, Saratoga Race Course, Race 11, 5:46 p.m. ET
1 ¼ miles, dirt, 3-year-olds
TV: NBC from 4-6 p.m. ET
PP
Horse
Jockey
Trainer
Owner
Odds
1
Upstart
Irad Ortiz Jr.
Rick Violette
Ralph M. Evans and WinStar Farm
15-1
2
American Pharoah
Victor Espinoza
Bob Baffert
Zayat Stables
1-5
3
Mid Ocean
Manuel Franco
George Weaver
Bermuda Limestone Thoroughbreds
50-1
4
Texas Red
Kent Desormeaux
Keith Desormeaux
Erich Brehm, Wayne Detmar, Lee Michaels, Keith Desormeaux, et al.
8-1
5
Frammento
Jose Ortiz
Nick Zito
Mossarosa
30-1
6
Frosted
Joel Rosario
Kiaran McLaughlin
Godolphin Racing
6-1
7
Keen Ice
Javier Castellano
Dale Romans
Donegal Racing
12-1
8
Tale of Verve
Gary Stevens
Dallas Stewart
Charles E. Fipke
30-1
9
King of New York
Julien Leparoux
Ken McPeek
Harold Lerner
50-1
10
Smart Transition
John Velazquez
John Shirreffs
Arnold Zetcher
20-1