Big ol’ goose egg for us yesterday. Caleb and Mark take some prices on Thursday, while Josh is content to take 2-1 or so on a Linda Rice horse.

Caleb @CalebWVU

Race 8 – #5 Time for Trouble: With the forecast looking suspect for Thursday, I opted to avoid the turf races for the play of the day. Next will certainly be a heavy favorite in this race, but I’m not ready to concede the race to him just yet. This dirt marathon division feels like one that often sees horses struggle to repeat big efforts, and Next ran huge last out in the Brooklyn. He had a huge pace advantage that day, galloping alone up front en route to an easy score. With Sea Foam in this race and Luis Saez getting aboard Lone Rock, Next will likely have to deal with some pace pressure today. I think Time for Trouble is a sneaky upset candidate. There is no doubt about his stamina, being by English Channel and out of a Galileo mare, and he is already proven over the arduous Kentucky Downs one mile and five-sixteenths distance. He’s not quite good enough to compete at the graded stakes level on turf, but he is arguably more effective racing over the dirt, where he’s posted four wins from six career starts. He is extremely versatile, able to go to the lead or launch a late rally from far back if needed, and he’s already proven over an off track should Saratoga get some rain. His win two back and Keeneland was against a strong field, and if he can repeat or improve that performance he could prove an upset candidate here.

Josh @CherryDrank

Race 3 – #3 Brisky Frolic: When I’m at home playing the races, my wife will walk into the room and exclaim, “I want $3 on the 3 in Race 3!” and I oblige. That being said, it’s only fitting that I take the #3 horse in Race 3 on my wife’s birthday. Linda Rice has been red hot and has not shown any signs of stopping. Horse plots out as a big Q1 square on both the Standard and Surf to Dist plot on Optix. Dropping in class, cutting back, and switching surfaces with Jose Ortiz aboard. This will be a single for me in the early, but I expect to get less than the 3-1 ML.

Mark @Two_Turns

SCRATCHED Race 10 – #6 Son of a Birch: The last time I picked a JJ/Morley horse in the finale at Saratoga with dirtied up form in a turf sprint it produced my worst beat of the meet. A couple of jumps from the wire I had a P5 winner to the tune of 46k, only to be mowed down in the final strides, but that’s horse racing. Son of a Birch is a very similar horse who didn’t show his best as a 2yr old at Saratoga last summer, broke his maiden in a rained off affair, and may not have loved the soft going last out at Belmont in stakes company. He seems the type who hasn’t quite figured it out yet and I’m hoping the cutback to a sprint is what he wanted all along, with today’s jock riding these turf sprints better than anyone. Once again I expect the hall of famer to handle him aggressively and if this son of Temple City takes to the cutback, he should run a huge one in a race full of very live Saratoga connections so that 20-1 morning line may very well hold.

Race 9 – #9 High Tide: The 9th race came up very interesting as 11f on the inner is not a configuration that is run very often at Saratoga but also a distance most of these horses don’t appear to want. The post time favorite will probably be #4 Pioneering Spirit given how live Linda’s barn is right now and the three-race win streak, but his figures are light in this field and I’m not sure he wants more distance. The other major player is the #2 Space Launch with his one effort going this long producing an OK effort at the Duct, but he seems to be camera shy and the last win was almost two years ago. #9 High Tide on the other hand has run well at this distance running a huge figure in a nice 2nd at Belmont a couple of years back. It appears that Martin Carlos took a bit to figure out this son of Malibu Moon but he won three of his last 5 before something clearly went wrong after his win last July at Saratoga. After the long layoff he probably needed one and I would imagine he’s been pointed towards this spot where if he can find any of his form from last summer, he’s a major player at a nice price.