August 15, 2024
WOODBINE — By Ed DeRosa
If you’re looking to make a big score on this year’s King’s Plate, then the superfecta is the bet for you.
This “exotic wager” requires the bettor to select the top 4 finishers in order. The minimum wager per combination is twenty cents.
The reason I bring this bet up for a race like the King’s Plate (when seldom mentioning it for other races) is because the King’s Plate attracted 13 entries. That means 17,160 superfecta combinations. That is more than 10 times the number of combinations in an 8-horse field.
All that adds up to big payouts if you find the right longshot to sneak in there, and I think we have a few options in this year’s race, which is the 11th on Saturday at Woodbine.
Trainer Mark Casse has won the Plate 3 times, and he has three very good horses here in an attempt to win a fourth.
#7 My Boy Prince is the favorite and unquestionably the horse to beat off his three-race win streak at Woodbine, including in the Plate Trial last out.
#3 Essex Spirit won the Marine Stakes last time, and the horse he beat has already come back to win a stakes race at Ellis (think of this feather in Essex Spirit’s cap as a strength of schedule boost).
The other (other) Casse is #5 Midnight Mascot, who I thought ran great in the Marine chasing home his stablemate. He’ll have to improve to beat his stablemates, but he will be the third choice among them (aka the best odds).
The (potential) longshots who interest me are #2 Rafaroo, #4 Caitlinhergrtness and #13 Vitality. I say “potential” because I think one of Rafaroo or Caitlinhergrtness will be overbet, which hopefully drives up the price on the other. #13 Vitality will certainly be a longshot.
The superfecta can be a complicated play relative to the win and exacta bets I usually dole, but with an average payout of $360 on a 20-cent wager this year, it’s worth trying to make a score.
I will play this bet so that both Essex Spirit and Vitality finish in the top with at least one of the other Casse’s in the other two spots and at least one of #2 or #4 in the other spot.
