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).

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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, August 8

Saratoga Race Course, Race 7, $300,000 Ballerina Stakes, 3:42 p.m.

#4 Bellafina: We swept the double posted here last week and, like last week, we’re going to kick things off with a shorter price than usual and hope we can connect our selection with a bigger price for an exacta. What’s clear about Bellafina is that she tends to run her best when she’s got a solid pace in front of her to close into and when she isn’t drawn inside near the rail. In this race, she gets a dream setup with speedsters #1 Serengeti Empress, #2 Cookie Dough, and #5 Letruska all entered to run. She draws the four post, which should also be to her liking and minimize her chances of being dramatically impacted if she doesn’t break cleanly from the gate (which has been an issue for her). If you’re betting this race, you also have to use #6 Pink Sands (10-1 on the morning line). She’s a deep closer who’s also going to get a great setup while cutting back to her preferred distance on seven furlongs.

Strategy on a $10 Budget 

$5 to win on #4 Bellafina ($5)

$5 exacta 4 with 6 ($5)

Strategy on a $25 Budget

$10 to win on #4 Bellafina ($10)

$10 exacta 4 with 6 ($10)

$5 exacta 6 with 4 ($5)

Strategy on a $50 Budget

$20 to win on #4 Bellafina ($20)

$15 exacta 4 with 6 ($15)

$5 exacta 6 with 4 ($5)

$2 exacta 3 with 4,6 ($4)

$1 trifecta key 6 with 3,4,7 ($6)

Saratoga Race Course, Race 9, $150,000 Waya Stakes, 5:02 p.m.

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#4 My Sister Nat: Yes, we’re going with another pretty short price here, but I think My Sister Nat is coming into a peak performance on Saturday, and again we might have some success pairing her up with a price underneath. My Sister Nat’s return race in June (off a seven-month layoff) in the New York Stakes was probably her best race to date. In that race, a very well-meant Mean Mary was sent to the front and enjoyed a very comfortable and uncontested lead. She set extremely slow fractions and no one really closed any ground from off the pace, except for My Sister Nat. If you go back to last year, My Sister Nat nearly won the Long Island Stakes going 1 3/8 miles. That’s the farthest she’s ever gone in a race and she seemed to enjoy every bit of it. Now, she gets to go an extra eighth of a mile on Saturday. If she somehow gets a little bit of pace to run into, it should be lights out for the rest of this field.

Strategy on a $10 Budget 

$5 to win on #4 My Sister Nat ($5)

$5 exacta 4 with 5 ($5)

Strategy on a $25 Budget 

$15 to win on #4 My Sister Nat ($15)

$5 exacta 4 with 5 ($5)

$3 exacta 5 with 4 ($3)

$1 trifecta key 1 with 4,5 ($2)

Strategy on a $50 Budget

$20 to win on #4 My Sister Nat ($20)

$10 exacta 4 with 5 ($10)

$6 exacta 5 with 4 ($6)

$1 trifecta 4,5 with 3,4,5 with 1,3,4,5 ($8)

$1 trifecta box: 1,4,5 ($6)

Last Week’s Earnings: $284.85

2020 Earnings: $3,883.68