Saratoga Racing Tips: Forty primed for Smooth success

Saratoga 19:13: Forty Smooth 1pt win at 9/4 or better

This bottom-level claimer is one of the weakest races run at the Saratoga meet so far and I'll be disappointed if Forty Smooth can't come out on top, for all that she needs to prove her ability to handle dirt at the first attempt.

The daughter of Upstart has done most of her racing up at Woodbine, where she was primarily campaigned on turf, winning once on that surface and notching another success on the all-weather track in November.

She was claimed out of her final Woodbine start by Michael DePaulo, who shipped her to Gulfstream, where she struck on her first start for him on the new all-weather track there in January.

She was claimed again after that race by current trainer Bruce Levine, who presumably has had a few problems keeping her sound in the interim, as we haven't seen her since then.

However, she returns here with plenty of workouts in the bag, some of them pretty swift over the Saratoga track, suggesting she won't have any problems handling the dirt for the first time.

Forty Smooth is cutting back from longer races to this 7f trip but I don't see that as an issue, particularly as she has plenty of early speed and an aggressive jockey on board in Luis Saez.

Based on her all-weather and turf form, she's simply a faster horse than those she meets here, the slight doubts being the layoff and the surface switch, though I still think she'll take all the beating.