Saturday is sprinting day at Santa Anita Park. Both the boys and the girls will get their chance to turn seven furlongs in a hurry in Grade 1 races.
The filly version, the La Brea Stakes might not have the same sort of buildup as the Malibu Stakes, but for our money, the fillies provide the better opportunity for bettors to cash in big.
You can find horse racing odds at BookMaker.eu at the online racebook.
ODDS ANALYSIS
1: Birdatthewire 6/1
2: Hot City Girl 3/1
3: Cavorting 5/2
4: Maybellene 15/1
5: Lily Pod 20/1
6: Ben's Duchess 3/1
7: Rattataptap 12/1
8: Pleasant Tales 20/1
9: Moyo Honey 20/1
10: Finest City 8/1
Hot City Girl, Cavorting and Ben's Duchess are clearly the three fillies to watch out for in this race. All three are more or less the co-favorites at the La Brea Stakes, and it wouldn't be all that shocking to see any of the three win this race and win it comfortably.
Birdatthewire has some of the best breeding in this field and is set at 6 to 1, while Finest City is just behind at 8 to 1. None of the other fillies are better than 12 to 1.
FAVORITE TO FOLLOW
Cavorting was the only one of the fillies in this field to run in the Breeders' Cup, and we think that's a real testament to what she has the ability to do. She was only fourth best at the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint, but she was the favorite at 7 to 2 in the 14 horse field.
She's a trailer by nature and has a phenomenal close in the last two furlongs or so. We've seen her blow away field after field in great races, including at the Prioress Stakes and the Test Stakes at Saratoga. What we don't like though, is that this is the first time she's ever raced on the West Coast in her career.
UNDERDOG TO WATCH
A jockey change and a change of scenery might be just what the doctor ordered for Birdatthewire. She was sired by Summer Bird by way of Birdstone, and that alone should give her plenty of closing speed along with Cavorting.
Basically everywhere she has gone, Birdatthewire has been amongst the favorites, yet she has had a history of poor results as the chalk. In fact, she only has three career wins, albeit one of which was at the Gulfstream Park Oaks, one of the main prep races for the Kentucky Oaks.
ANALYSIS AND PREDICTION
The trick here for Cavorting is making sure that she doesn't get into too much traffic. That was her big problem at the Breeders' Cup, and if she finds herself at the back of this pack with too much traffic to get through, she isn't going to get up to the head of the pack.
There's a lot to not like about the other favorites as well. Hot City Girl has never performed well at the Grade 1 level in her career, and though Ben's Duchess is hot, she's still rated fifth best in this race by Prime Power for a reason.
That's why we're willing to take a shot at 6 to 1 on Birdatthewire. As her namesake suggests, we think that she's run a very similar race to Cavorting. Both will come up at the wire, but given our options, we'd rather have the 6 to 1 on the horse with the better breeding than the 3 to 1 on the de facto co-favorite.
Play Birdatthewire to win the La Brea Stakes
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