Jim Thorpe Stakes Betting Preview
By: Ace the “Horse Whisperer”
Remington Park is the place to be on a cold Saturday night, where the Oklahoma foals will be showing off their stuff. There are several bigger-stakes races on the card, but this one does seem very interesting to me. I think this race has the most head-scratchers. Only one or two are truly stakes caliber, in my opinion.
Nothing would surprise me here, but the Jim Thorpe Stakes will be for the three-year-olds going one mile on the main dirt course racing for $70,000. This stake will be carded as Race 8, going to post at 9:23 p.m. (ET)
(2) Inca Empire- 5/2 Morning Line Odds
The morning line odds for this horse baffles me. They haven’t won since April. Running fourth from off his layoff, this one is progressively returning to good form, even if they haven’t hit the board lately. Gerardo Mora is winning at 14%. Joe Offolter is winning at 16%. They only have one win in four tries here. I just don’t see how this one competes in this stakes in all honesty.
(3) Dancing Devil- 5/1 Morning Line Odds
They got claimed last out after their win and just broke their maiden two races before that. Please note it took this horse eight tries to break their maiden. Jose Medina is winning at 16% on the year, while James Hale is winning at 22% on the fiscal. They are moving up in class but, at the same time coming off a great race. I just don’t think this one has anything special, and starting in a new barn could distract this one from performing their best first out.
(4) Laridae- 10/1 Morning Line Odds
They just broke their maiden and are stepping up in class, but they do have a solid jockey onboard who knows how to win big races. Stewart Elliot is winning at 19% for the meet. Mindy Willis is winning at 14%. It’d take a big effort to win, but at these odds, I do think they compete for underneath prices if you like someone at longer odds in the Jim Thorpe Stakes.
(5) Beckett’s Luckyday- 3/1 Morning Line Odds
This horse has not won since May, but that was a stakes race, and their last couple of races have been pretty good at decent levels. They’ve actually had three good speed figures in a row. Weston Hamilton is winning at 13%, while Patrick Swan is training to the tune of 15%. I wish their workouts were a little better, but the fact that their last speed figure is best in the field tells me this horse has a good enough closing kick to pass them all if need be.
Pick for the Race: (5) Beckett’s Luckyday
If this horse can break and get into a competitive position stalking the early pace, their class speaks for itself against this field. The consistent speed figures show this horse can run. Although no one has a ton of wins consistently, they’ve shown they can win here and haven’t had a dud race in a while.
