Alabama Stakes Handicapping Picks
Horse racing gamblers are you looking for 2023 Alabama Stakes Free Pick & Handicapping Odds…plus some predictions? Need some advice on who to take? The 2023 Alabama is set for August 19 at Saratoga race course in Saratoga Springs, NY. Here’s a preview of our top contenders.
Alabama Stakes Preview
- Race: Alabama Stakes
- Purse: $600,000
- Track: Saratoga Race Course
- Date: August 19
- Post Time: 5:45 PM (ET)
- Live: Alabama Stakes Odds: Click Here
2023 Alabama Stakes Racebooks / Betting Apps We Like!
Before we can give you our expert 2023 Alabama Stakes free pick, we have to break down the entries! In fact, we’d love to hear from you after you’ve given this post a read to see if you see an angle that we don’t!
2023 Alabama Stakes Handicapping
No, that’s not a typo. The (G1) Alabama Stakes is actually run in New York, owing to the fact that in 1872, Saratoga wanted a race to honour long-time horseman William Cottrell. In turn, Cottrell asked that the race not be named after him, but for his home state of Alabama. Now you know.
That aside, the Alabama is the premier summer race for three-year-old fillies in the US, much the same as next week’s Travers Stakes is the premier summer race for three-year-old colts. For 2023, the Alabama has drawn a solid field of 10 entries, several of whom met just one month ago in the (G1) Coaching Club America Oaks, also at Saratoga.
Odds listed here are provided by the Saratoga track oddsmaker.
2023 Alabama Stakes Free Pick & Handicapping: Wet Paint Race Odds: 2-1
The winner of the above mentioned CCA Oaks by neck, that effort was even more impressive when you consider the late running Wet Paint didn’t have a lot of early speed to close into, but still got the job done in the 1 1/8 mile race.
Here she has an extra 1/8 of a mile to work with as she tries for her second Grade 1 and fourth graded-stakes win overall. Since making her career debut on turf, she has run first or second in seven-of-eight dirt starts. The only real blemish on her resume is a fourth-place finish as the post-time favourite in the (G1) Kentucky Oaks.
Trainer Brad Cox and jockey Flavien Prat both go for their first Alabama win.
2023 Alabama Stakes Free Pick & Handicapping: Randomized Race Odds: 9-2
The lightly raced Randomized has only made four career starts, and in those has run in a good-race-bad-race pattern with two wins, a third and a sixth in that span.
Last out she was very good going one mile on the Saratoga dirt, winning the Wilton Stakes by by 1 1/2 lengths after taking the field wire-to-wire. In that she also scored a 101 Equibase speed figure, tops in this field. Three starts back she broke her maiden at Aqueduct and produced a 106 figure, also at 1 mile. Now the question is if she can carry that speed another 1/4 mile.
Trainer Chad Brown won the race in 2019, jockey Joel Rosario won it in 2010.
Julia Shining Race Odds: 5-1
A bit of a wild card in this field, Julia Shining will come into the race after a 134-day layoff when she was last seen closing fast to finish third by only 3/4 of a length in the (G1) Ashland Stakes at Keeneland in early April.
She does have a graded-stakes win to her name, as she took the 1 1/16 miles (G2) Demoiselle Stakes over a sloppy track at Aqueduct last December. She has improved her speed figures in each of her four career races and and another improvement puts her in the thick of it, if she’s fit enough off the layoff.
Trainer Todd Pletcher has won the Alabama four times, including each of the past two years. Luis Saez is tapped to ride.
Taxed Race Odds: 8-1
On form, Taxed is in with a shot here, as she has been first or second in her last three starts, all at the graded-stakes level. Included in those is a win in the (G2) Black-Eyed Susan stakes at Pimlico, where she cruised to a 3 3/4 length victory over a filly that came back to win its next start.
The fly in the ointment is that she has a very similar running style to favoured Wet Paint, and that one has already beaten her on three previous occasions. Here, it might come down to which horse gets the better trip.
Randy Morse trains, regular jockey Rafael Bejarano comes in from Ellis Park to ride.
Here’s My 2023 Alabama Stakes Free Pick.
At first glance it might be easy to concede this race to Wet Paint, and if you can get her morning line odds of 2-1, it might be enough to make the bet and try to get some value underneath in the exacta.
On the other hand, Saratoga has a well-earned reputation as being tough on favourites, and I think this is a race where you can look for a mild upset, with the distance being the great equalizer. While it’s noted above that Taxed has lost to Wet Paint three times already, I think the former still has lots of room for improvement, and also might have a bit more early speed.
That could bode well in a race where they might be going fast early. So it’s Taxed for the win, boxed with Wet Paint in the exacta.
Full Field: 2023 Alabama Stakes Odds
By post position
- #1 – Sacred Wish 8-1
- #2 – Wet Paint 2-1
- #3 – Julia Shining 5-1
- #4 – Sabra Tuff 30-1
- #5 – Fireline 12-1
- #6 – Chocolate Gelato 15-1
- #7 – Gambling Girl 8-1
- #8 – Randomized 9-2
- #9 – Taxed 8-1
- #10 – Defining Purpose 10-1
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