Saratoga: Turf Sprinters headline final Friday in Lucky Coin Stakes

By Rick Francis —-

Saratoga

Race 10) Lucky Coin Stakes 5&1/2 Furlongs TURF Post Time 5:50 EDT

1) Fig Jelly (Servis/Castellano); 4-year-old turned in his best effort in quite some time with a game second against Monmouth overnighters last out; third off the layoffs for Servis is a strong 28 percent.

2) Fixed Point (Serpe/Franco); caught in the stretch here last month; loves the distance (8 3-1-2)

3) Disco Partner (Clement/Ortiz, I.); rundown in the G3 Troy; 7-year-old is highly competitive at the highest levels of turf sprinting and is clearly the one to bet here.

4) Mustaaqeem (McLaughlin/Saez); Australian-bred makes his North American debut with first lasix for a barn that currently has had mixed success in these spots; watching this one.

5) Final Frontier (Albertrani/Lezcano); 4-year-old Ghostzapper colt gets his first stakes test and does so in top form having won 2-of-3; hot horse.

6) Shekky Shebaz (Servis/Ortiz, J.); debuts in the Servis barn (35 percent angle) off a nice win against claimers; it’s a tough test but he’s ready.

7) Square Shooter (Englehart/Vargas); after four straight mid-pack finishes in stakes company, connections dropped him in a Laurel allowance test and he delivered; tougher crew here.

8) Lonhtwist (O’Brien/Harkie); on paper is clearly overmatched.

9) Strike Power (Hennig/Velazquez); returns to the turf after a grueling main track run which included starts in the Grade 1 Vanderbilt and G2 True North where he placed; surface switch a bit of a puzzle.

Selections: 3, 1, 5, 9