Dan’s Double of the Week, featuring handicapping analysis from America’s Best Racing’s New York correspondent Dan Tordjman, is brought to you by Horseplayers.com, the official online qualifying site of the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge (BCBC) and National Horseplayers Championship (NHC). Horseplayers.com offers low-cost feeders every day and BCBC and NHC qualifiers every weekend, and it’s the only site where you can qualify for the $1 million BCBC. It’s free to sign up – click here to get information about registering and how to enter contests.

When it comes to making money when handicapping races and betting on horse racing, it’s all about picking winners. Tordjman – DanonymousMan to those who follow him on Twitter – is one of the sharpest horseplayers around.

Each Week, Tordjman will provide readers with his two best bets of the weekend and strategies for how to bet them. Good luck!

Saturday, Feb. 2

Aqueduct, Race 7, 3:23 p.m. ET

#5 Zap Zap Zap: If you’re looking for a longshot on Saturday, this one has a sneaky look. When dealing with lower-level claimers, as we are here, I have two rules: Throw out recent form and never trust a mid-to-upper level allowance horse dropping down into this company. Your likely favorites in this race all meet the aforementioned play-at-your-own-risk criteria. After putting lines through those, I landed on Zap Zap Zap who was beaten by 28 ½ lengths last out as a favorite on Dec. 30. Not his day but he was up with the pace when going a mile there. I like the cutback to six furlongs here, a distance at which he won last spring against much tougher company. More recent was his loss by just a neck in $20,000 claiming company. This is a soft bunch and if you tell me I’m getting at least 6-1 on Zap Zap Zap, I’m in.

$10 Budget

$1 exacta key box 5 with 2,3,8 ($6)

$2 win and place on #5 Zap Zap Zap ($4)

$25 Budget

$1 exacta key box 5 with 2,3,6,8 ($8)

$2 exacta 5 with 2 ($2)

$5 win, place and show on #5 Zap Zap Zap ($15)

$50 Budget

$1 exacta key box 5 with 2,3,6,8 ($8)

$10 exacta 5 with 2 ($10)

$8 win, place and show on #5 Zap Zap Zap ($24)

$.50 trifecta 2,5 with 2,3,5 with 2,3,5,6,7,8 ($8)

Aqueduct, Race 9, $250,000 Withers Stakes, 4:30 p.m. ET

#7 Not That Brady: And this is not that hunch play. A day before the Super Bowl, this horse should keep the name “Brady” on Twitter timelines, especially in conversations about the Kentucky Derby trail. Granted, the company he has faced to date has all been restricted to state-bred horses. However, that also makes the figures he’s posted in his last two starts all the more impressive. He has a tactical advantage being drawn to the outside in this smallish field and should have the option to either press or just take control early if none of the horses to his inside decide to get brave.

$10 Budget

$2 win and place on $7 Not That Brady ($4)

$1 exacta box 6,7 ($2)

$1 exacta key box 7 with 5,6 ($4)

$25 Budget

$5 win and place on $7 Not That Brady ($10)

$5 exacta box 6,7 ($10)

$1 exacta key box 7 with 5,6 ($4)

$50 Budget

$10 win and place on $7 Not That Brady ($20)

$10 exacta 7 with 6 ($10)

$5 exacta 6 with 7 ($5)

$2 exacta key box 7 with 5,6 ($8)

$1 trifecta 7 with 6 with all ($5)

Last Week’s Earnings: $574

Year-to-Date Earnings: $1,278.81