With the Saratoga and Del Mar meets upon us, we are going to be putting out more content then ever! Saratoga One a Day will be each of us making one pick for each race day. We will be keeping track with a $2 Win/Place bet payout and see if we can keep a positive ROI for the meet!

Mark – @Two_Turns

Race 5 – #3 Pit Boss – Growing up handicapping Saratoga, one thing I love to chase is angles; and this 3rd race provides one of my favorite ones. Javier Castellano had been on a two-year cold spell before showing up at the 2022 Saratoga meet where he went on a tear, especially during the first couple weeks of the meet, and kept that momentum alive culminating in two Triple Crown wins. JJ is known for getting pickup mounts with smaller or out of town barns shipping in live horses at nice prices and Pit Boss seems to perfectly fit this mold. He’s got tactical speed, could inherit a soft lead, fits on speed figures, and won three back at this trip and level. I think you get every bit of that 15-1 ML and if so he looms a massive post time overlay.

Caleb – @CalebWVU

Race 7 – #1 Into Happiness – Four year old filly has shown flashes of ability in the past but was routinely campaigned in the wrong spots. She finally put it all together last out on the class drop when spotted appropriately. She goes out for a new barn today with Mark Hennig, who doesn’t claim often but has a strike rate of 25% with a +$1.43 ROI over the last three years. Johnny V takes the call, so I’d expect her to be aggressively ridden early to secure a forward position in a race that doesn’t have an abundance of early pace

Josh – @CherryDrank

Race 8 – #4 My Sea Cottage – Unfortunately for me, Caleb took what was going to be my play, as I love Into Happiness in Race 7 and think she will offer a lot of value. However, for my official pick, I will go with My Sea Cottage in Race 8. This 5 year old gelding gets the services of Irad Ortiz, Jr. in this spot as the ML favorite which seems to be devoid of speed. I like the horse stretching out from 6F at Belmont and both career wins are going 1 Mile on the Turf. Optix loves the 4 as a lone Q1 square on the surface to distance plot so we have a bonafide Three Cherry Special.

Let us know on Twitter @wrong_lead or on Threads @otwlead who you like opening day!

-Josh