With so many of the racetracks in the north closing down for the winter, the Sport of Kings is just getting revved up down in the Sunshine State once again. Opening weekend at Gulfstream Park might not have any graded stakes races, but purses totaling well over $1 million will be handed out on Saturday alone, headlined by the Claiming Crown Jewel.
You can find horse racing odds at BookMaker.eu at the online racebook.
ODDS ANALYSIS
1: Lieutenant Seany O
2: U.S.S. Boxer
3: African Fighter
4: Padilla
5: Rizwan
6: Aces for John
7: Market Blaster
8: Rich Daddy
9: Indycott
10: Freestyler
11: Royal Posse
12: Mr Palmer
13: Second City
14: Mal Guapo
With 14 horses in this field, there's a great chance for a massive payout at the end of the night. That said, this is an incredibly difficult race to try to handicap. Market Blaster is very likely to be the favorite of the bunch, but if it was by anything less than a 4 to 1 margin, we'd be surprised.
Market Blaster, Indycott and Royal Posse basically have the same class rating coming into this race, and Prime Power only separates Market Blaster from its second rated horse, Royal Posse by 2.3, a relatively small margin.
FAVORITE TO FOLLOW
We're actually more into Royal Posse than we are Market Blaster heading into Gulfstream's opening weekend. Royal Posse is coming off of a second place finish in the Empire Classic at Belmont Park in October in which he finished second in a field of nine.
We don't like how Royal Posse hasn't run against fields anywhere near this big before in his career, but we do love the fact that he's hit the board in five races in a row and has posted a pair of 100+ Beyer Speed Ratings since the start of the summer.
UNDERDOG TO WATCH
Let's not forget about Mal Guapo here even though he's going to be starting from the outside. He's five years old now and should be hitting that point when he starts to decline just a bit. That said, he's gone wire-to-wire in three consecutive races that he's run in, including taking a seven-horse field and embarrassing it by 13 lengths back in July.
That said, this is a big step up in class for Mal Guapo, and we're not sure he's necessarily ready for it. He's never run here at Gulfstream Park, and for the most part, he's only been running on smaller tracks. That said, if he runs as well as he did in his last three races, he'll be the horse to beat at probably a reasonably high price.
ANALYSIS AND PREDICTION
This is really uncharted territory for all of these horses, so we're more or less throwing darts at a board and hoping something sticks. We suggest staying away from the favorites and taking some shots at some double-digit underdogs. Mal Guapo will likely fit the bill coming over from Keeneland Park.
Don't discount Rich Daddy either, knowing that he's won here three times in seven races in his career and has hit the board in each of those races.
Still, we'd rather back Mal Guapo here with Rich Daddy and potentially Rizwan filling out an exotic which would easily pay four figures.
Play Mal Guapo to win the Claiming Crown Jewel
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