Hello and welcome back for another StableDuel strategy piece. Today, our focus is shifting out west to Santa Anita. StableDuel has TWO contests at StableDuel today. We have the jewel of the week, the $100 Santa Anita with a $15,000 prize pool with payouts going to the top 20 finishers. First place walks away with $3,500. Their second contest is a $5 feeder contest for a crossover event. Besides getting cash prizes, the top 32 finishers will be randomly assigned a snowboarder in the Natural Selection Tour: Stop 2 next week. If the boarder you get wins, you’ll receive $500! So it is worth getting into both contests today! If you’re new, the $5 contest is perfect for you to get your feet wet!
If you’re new to StableDuel, the idea is simple. Select 10 horses to build your “stable” while staying within the salary cap of $50,000. Horses are assigned prices based on their morning line odds, so you cannot use all favorites in your stable. StableDuel awards points for horses that come 1st – 5th and subtracts horses that finish outside of the top 5. This is why it is crucial to make sure you’re reading our content to narrow in on value horses that we think can get points.
If you haven’t signed up yet, click the banner below to start winning with Karma on StableDuel!
High Price Favorites
Cuban Crisis $8500- Race 3
It’s always a gamble putting a maiden (horse that’s never won) as a top bet, but I just loved what I saw from Cuban Crisis in her US debut last month on this same track. She broke extremely poorly, got caught in traffic and had to check, but still managed to get 3rd place, only losing by 3/4 of a length. Flavien Prat had options in this race whether to ride Cuban Crisis or Laura Mars and he chose this horse instantly. That only reaffirms what I believe I saw last month when this horse grabbed 3rd place while running a winning race. Give this horse a cleaner trip and we’ll see her in the winners circle.
Mid Price Plays
Cee E Oh $6000 – Race 6
I am going to stick with the maiden ranks and outline this race of extreme losers. Your overwhelming favorite is #5 State Of The Union for $9800. This horse has never went over 6 furlongs on the dirt and even with the shorter distance has struggled. I can see why the horse is the favorite, but also can’t risk that salary. Moving over to the #2 Pinedale, I wasn’t impressed by this one’s dirt debut either. I got a tip that this horse is live, but again.. the price is $8000 on a horse that couldn’t make it 6 furlongs. So instead, I like a pivot play to the only horse in this field that hasn’t run a race yet. Cee E Oh is trained by David Hofmans, and the angle that stuck out to me was that he wins with debut horses going two turns at 35%. He has 2 winners in his last 5 (40%), and those horses were at great 7/1+ prices. If that’s the only angle I can find in this race, I’ll take my shot on the trainer.. not so much as the horse!
Handy Dandy $6000 – Race 9
One more Mid Price Play I like is Handy Dandy in the finale. This horse showed nothing on debut in the dirt in both Special Weight and Claiming ranks, but then this horse was gelded and moved to the turf. He broke his maiden going a mile (same distance as this race) on the grass and has put back to back consecutive solid efforts on the turf. In 3 career turf starts, Handy Dandy has 2 wins and a 3rd. The only true fault I have with this horse is that Flavien Prat chose to ride Sumter instead of Handy Dandy. I’ll take my chances on the cheaper option!
Value Plays
Cordiality $750 – Race 7
Cordiality comes into this race as the elder of the group and I love her to turn back the clocks and run like its 2020. This 9-year-old mare has only ran twice since 2020, but her workouts look great and she is projected to be the lone speed. Back when she was 7, she found stakes success against Cal-bred horses multiple times at this distance. When she was left alone on the lead, she was able to wire the fields. Her trainer spotted her in a race last month to get her legs back, so this looks like the perfect spot. While this is a punt play, I do think she has a strong chance to finish with some StableDuel points if she’s not able to make it the full distance for the win.
