New Pro-Ride Surface Will Challenge Online Betting Fans
Santa Anita begins its short Oak Tree Meet on 9/24/2008 with a brand new Pro-Ride surface installed for not only the meet but for the Breeders’ Cup World Thoroughbred Championships being held on Oct. 24th and Oct. 25th.
For online racebook fans, the Pro-Ride surface may or may not be a hindrance to classic handicapping strategies. Online betting fans should note that making a horse bet on overlays is the only way to make money when making online gambling wagers on horses.
Underlays will kill a bankroll quicker than any inability of a horse to run over a particular surface. Good horses should be able to run on anything.
With that being written, there are a number of questions going into the Santa Anita Oak Tree Meet. I will do my best to answer them as well as I can.
What type of runner will the Pro-Ride surface favor? It’s impossible to know. Hollywood Park’s cushion track doesn’t have a bias. Keeneland’s Polytrack appears to favor speed. Del Mar’s Polytrack favored speed horses on some days and pressers and closers on other days. The Pro-Ride surface is brand new. It’s going to take a couple of weeks before online betting fans get a real idea of how the track is going to play on any given day.
What will the Breeders’ Cup preps tell us? Everything. I do believe that unlike conventional dirt surfaces, horses that have shown a liking to artificial surfaces, in particular an artificial surface like Pro-Ride, no doubt will do well in races where they appear to have no chance. This means that Go Between, Well Armed and Tiago, all California horses who have had success on California tracks, could have a huge shot at upsetting both Big Brown and Curlin in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Pay particular attention to horses that run well over the Pro-Ride surface in Breeders’ Cup Sprint races. This means that Street Boss might be a solid single on Breeders’ Cup Day should he take to the Pro-Ride surface. If he doesn’t, he could be a nice underlaid throw out on Breeders’ Cup Day.
Will Richard “Papa” Mandella dominate this year’s Breeders’ Cup? Maybe. Papa Mandella knows how to get his horses ready for the Breeders’ Cup when it’s held at Santa Anita. The past two times it’s been held at Santa Anita, Mandella has dominated. Online racebook fans must watch Mandella’s horses in the next couple of weeks. If they prep well over the Pro-Ride surface, or the grass for that matter, then they have to be looked at as contenders on Breeders’ Cup Day.
Who will win the jockey title? Rafael Bejarano. That’s who. Why? Because Bejarano is the best jockey in California right now. He should get the best mounts and he’s a proven winner. If the online BetUS Sportsbook is offering odds on who will win the jockey title, then take Bejarano.
Who will win the training title? I believe that it’s up for grabs. Who knows how well each trainers group of horses will do over the new Pro-Ride surface? If I had to choose, then I’d go with Doug O’Neil. O’Neil is very good at getting his horses ready for meets like Oak Tree. He also runs a lot of horses which is what you have to do in order to win the training title.
Will European horses do well on the Santa Anita turf course? It depends on the Euro that we’re talking about. The Santa Anita turf course isn’t nearly as deep as the turf courses found in Kentucky and New York. Because it’s a firmer turf, some Euro’s excel. Some can’t get across it at all. Then again, most Euros who prep for the Breeders’ Cup during the Oak Tree Meet are just superior to American turf horses. Stick to the online betting rules that tell online racebook fans to bet overlays and everything should work out just fine.
