On Sunday, Josh backed into a chalky horse in the 9th after weather and scratches took out his other choices. Caleb still leads the pack with his 7-1 winner from opening day and Mark has a lone place horse to his name so far.

Caleb @CalebWVU

Race 10 – #9 Orange Freeze: I’m not particularly enamored with the horses exiting the NYSS race on June 18th at Belmont. Mr Big Bucks got away with an easy, uncontested lead, and she was able to spring the upset. I’m dubious of her ability to carry her speed around two turns. Red Moon arguably ran the best race that day, but the rider switch to Irad Ortiz kills any potential value here. Instead, I’m going for a new shooter in the #9 Orange Freeze. Throughout the opening week of Saratoga, it appears that speed has not been great on turf routes, so I’m looking for off the pace runners until proven otherwise. Orange Freeze has stepped forward in each of her three starts since the layoff, culminating in a runaway win last out when breaking her maiden. The raw speed figure she earned for that race puts her squarely in contention against this field, as I think timeformUS was too harsh in downgrading the figure due to the pace. Bill Morey has great stats first off the claim and with last out maiden winners, and it’s especially interesting to see him enter this filly here when he already has the likely favored runner in Red Moon.

Josh @CherryDrank

Race 7 – #5 Home for Christmas: This looks to be our first head-to-head matchup of the contest with me picking the #5 Home for Christmas in this race and Mark picking #6 Golden Rocket. While I respect Mark’s pick in this race, she’s my second choice in this race. The #5 Home for Christmas has had a less-than-stellar start to the 2023 season but gets back to a track she likes at Saratoga. Figures from last year fit here and I think she will sit just off the front runners and get the first run on the speed. Lezcano rides the turf well at Saratoga and you’re going to get a huge price on a horse first off the claim for DiPrima.

Mark @Two_Turns

Race 7 – #6 Golden Rocket: Saratoga bettors LOVE to chase connections and the 7th race on Wednesday has plenty of them, which should produce a solid price on my top pick Golden Rocket. She absolutely blew up the tote board last summer in a NY Stallion Series race at 33-1 going this trip across this surface and comes in with good form off a near miss in the Port Washington. She gets class relief here and showed she can handle the softer going in her last. Gomez really seems to have great chemistry on this 4-year-old filly with her best races coming with him up and Farro’s 2nd off the long layoff stats add to the appeal.