Weekend Stakes Races – Ride the Rails Stakes and Mervyn Leroy Handicap

Calder Racecourse is back with a full 12 race card on Saturday.

Their best stakes race is Race 11, the Ride The Rails Stakes.

Finding an overlaid horse bet in that race shouldn’t be very difficult to do.

The other terrific stakes race to bet is the Mervyn Leroy Handicap at Hollywood Park where last year’s Hollywood Gold Cup winner, Rail Trip, returns to action.

Weekend Stakes Races

• Calder Racecourse – Race 11
• Race-time: 5:38 pm EST
• Ride The Rails Stakes $55,000
• For Three Year Olds
• 1 mile 70 yards on dirt

Coffee Boy was last seen breaking his maiden by 8 ½ lengths down at Gulfstream Park in March. At that time he was running for Todd Pletcher’s barn. He switches trainers to Martin Wolfson. Wolfson is a 40% winning trainer off of the claim, a 32% winning trainer 46 to 90 days away, and a 25% winning trainer first at a route.

Coffee Boy should have no problem stretching out. If he’s close to his 6 to 1 morning line, he’s the obvious play in this.

Wolfson could finish 1st and 2nd in this race because he also trains Bernie The Maestro. Bernie will be on the lead or tracking Coffee Boy in this race. Both of them should be about 4 to 5 lengths ahead of the rest of the field. He’s finished 1st twice and 2nd once in his last 3 races.

An all Wolfson exacta looks more than possible. Gator Tiger has done his best running on the turf and plastic, but is the obvious closer to bet if horseplayers believe that Coffee Boy and Bernie The Maestro get into a duel down the backstretch.

Gator Tiger has a nice turn of foot and should save a ton of ground since he breaks from the one hole. He’s got a shot in this race.

1. Coffee Boy
2. Bernie The Maestro
3. Gator Tiger

Hollywood Park – Race 5

• Race-time: 6:04 pm EST
• Grade II Mervyn Leroy Handicap
• $150,000
• For Three Year Olds and Up
• 1 1/16th miles on cushion track

Rail Trip will be the chalk in this race and if he wasn’t coming off of such a big layoff, he’d be my top pick, but he hasn’t run since September of 2009 and might need a start before showing his best.

I prefer Tres Borrachos in this spot whom I believe has a terrific chance of getting an easy lead and coasting to about a length victory. Tres Borrachos shouldn’t receive too much heat on the front end as both Rail Trip and Slew’s Tiznow figure to lie about 2 to 3 lengths off of him.

The horse returns to a track where he’s 3 and 2 out of 8 lifetime races. He’s also shown speed off of a layoff in the past. If Victor Espinoza can get him to settle he could win at big odds. Slew’s Tiznow should get the perfect trip behind Tres Borrachos.

The question will be whether or not he’s good enough to run past his speedy rival. Horseplayers should think exacta box just in case he is. Dakota Phone is a hard trying horse that is coming off of a drubbing as the favorite in the Grade II Oaklawn Handicap.

He has a record of 1-2-2 out of 6 lifetime races over the cushion. He’s got a shot to win this.

1. Tres Borrachos
2. Slew’s Tiznow
3. Dakota Phone

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Good luck!