Thursday was a big fat disappointment for this column as our three-race sojourn north of the border to Canada’s premier track was nothing short of a disaster. To paraphrase a great line from Dad’s Army, Woodbine, you are on ze list!
Three races from there feature as part of Betfred’s Extra Place Race offerings today but I’m steering clear. It is 100% land of red, white and blue for me this Friday.
As always every selection comes from outside of the top three according to the odds on the Morning Line…
US Horse Racing Tips – Friday 15 September, 2023
- Back Cape Cod Summer e/w in the 18:00 at Delaware Park @ SP
- Back Cox Canyon e/w in the 18:14 at Churchill Downs @ SP
- Back Happy Cat e/w in the 18:30 at Delaware Park @ SP
*Betfred will price up US Races closer to Post Time.
In the 18:00 from Delaware Park, we have a three-year-old out of one of the great turf horses, multiple Grade I winner Treasure Beach, that catches my eye.
Cape Cod Summer has endured an interesting start to his young career. A couple of places down at Tampa Bay Downs in sprint races on the dirt before being tried out – extremely unsuccessfully – on the turf.
In mid-August he finally broke his maiden at the sixth time of asking and did follow that up with another place here at Delaware Park. So it is three places and a win from his six races on the dirt. At 8/1 in a low-quality field, feels like the type of each-way play Betfred’s Extra Place Races were built for.
Over at Churchill Downs next for their short autumn meet, where we have a three-year-old going in the 18:14 coming off a five-month layoff but who already has three wins on his young resume.
That horse is Cox Canyon out of the Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Ghostzapper. He broke his maiden just before Christmas last year at Tampa Bay Downs, before a dip in form saw three straight races missing the board. Back-to-back wins in late March/early April, however, saw his best speed figures put up before a dud, which saw him rested up.
Always tough to properly handicap a horse coming off such a long layoff but at his best, has a chance to be competitive and at odds of 12/1 and expected to go off as the rank outsider, worth a small each-way play.
Back to Delaware Park we go for the 18:30, where we have a five-furlong race on the turf and I’ll share with you one of my rules when picking horses Stateside.
If you are looking at the racecard for anything on the turf and see a horse out of Kitten’s Joy, do some extra research on them. In this case Happy Cat was sired out of the seven-time Graded Stakes winner and he blew away his rivals in a dominating run to break his maiden at Monmouth Park last month. That was his first race since a disappointing debut as a two-year-old last September.
He is getting at least seven lbs relief compared to everyone in the field and is priced up at 6/1 on the Morning Line. Usually in this column, I’m looking primarily for horses at 6/1 or longer to place but this could well be a legitimate win contender.
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