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, June 13

Laurel Park, Race 2, 1:10 p.m. ET

#7 Noble Lion: There are several positive signs heading into Saturday for this really well-bred horse owned in partnership by West Point Thoroughbreds. He’ll be making his first start for Kelly Rubley who has trained some really nice horses for West Point on this circuit over the past few years. Not only has she already won a few races at the young meet, her first-call rider Julian Pimentel gets the mount and they’ve clicked at a 30% clip over the past two years at Laurel. Noble Lion could’ve easily won last out at Tampa. He made a very sharp move late but lost momentum when the eventual winner, Old Dominion, came in on him. The stewards reviewed it but they decided not to disqualify the winner. As it turns out, Old Dominion came back and won his next start by four lengths. The connections of Noble Lion show confidence here moving him into allowance company off of that really solid performance at the claiming non-winners of two level last out. This horse is super tactical too. He can hang close to the pace if it’s slow or he can relax off of a fast pace. He also shows ascending Beyer Speed Figures dating back to last summer and he earned a career-best Equibase Speed Figure last out.

Strategy on a $10 Budget

$5 win and place on #7 Noble Lion ($10)

Strategy on a $25 Budget

$5 win and place on #7 Noble Lion ($10)

$4 exacta 7 over 2,5 ($8)

$.50 trifecta 7 over 2,5,11,13 ($6)

Strategy on a $50 Budget

$10 win and place on #7 Noble Lion ($20)

$4 exacta 7 over 2,5 ($8)

$1 trifecta 5,7 with 2,5,7,13 with 2,5,7,13 ($12)

$.50 trifecta 7 over 2,5,11,13 ($6)

$1 exacta 2,13 over 5,7 ($4)

Laurel Park, Race 9, 4:40 p.m. ET

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#7 Itgot Grandma: We’re going with a bit of a longshot here. It might be a little difficult to identify but this horse definitely tuned a corner at the start of this year and he’s run a lot better than one might think by simply looking at his win-loss record. Itgot Grandma won back-to-back races at Penn National and Laurel in January and February before a disappointing fifth-place finish in a field of six last out. But here’s what’s important to note: That last race was against tougher company. He was also switched out of the running style that had worked for him in his two prior races when he was on the lead. There’s no other apparent need-the-lead type of horse in this race, so I would like to see this horse get sent from the gate. If that happens and if he gets clear, he has the recent form to take them all the way on the front end. You’re also getting a horse who’ll likely be overlooked based on the fact that as of this writing his jockey Julio Correa is 0-for-16 and trainer Kieron Magee is 0-for-9 at the meet. But that won’t last forever. Correa and Magee have connected for a 28% combined win rate dating back to last year. Don’t sleep on this one!

Strategy on a $10 Budget

$2 win, place and show on #7 Itgot Grandma ($6)

$1 exacta 3,7 with 3,7,9 ($4)

Strategy on a $25 Budget

$4 win, place and show on #7 Itgot Grandma ($12)

$3 exacta 7 with 3,9 ($6)

$1 exacta key box 7 with 1,3,9 ($6)

Strategy on a $50 Budget

$8 win, place and show on #7 Itgot Grandma ($24)

$4 exacta 7 with 3,9 ($8)

$1 exacta key box 7 with 1,4,3,9 ($8)

$.50 trifecta 1,7 with 1,3,4,7 with 1,3,4,7,9 ($9)

Last Week’s Earnings: $0

2020 Earnings: $1,762.40