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City Man Favored To Defend Title At Saratoga | 2022 West Point Handicap Preview & FREE Picks
City Man winning the 2021 West Point (NYRA / Janet Garaguso)

City Man Favored To Defend Title At Saratoga | 2022 West Point Handicap Preview & FREE Picks

Mike previews the 2022 West Point Handicap at Saratoga, then gives his top picks and longshots. The feature event on the Friday before Travers Stakes Day is a tough stakes route for older New York-breds, where defending champion City Man is favored after beating open company in the Forbidden Apple Stakes (G3) at Belmont Park. Tell us YOUR thoughts in the Comments section!

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Travers Stakes Picks

Inside Track to the 2022 Travers Stakes

Download our MASSIVE Inside Track to the 2022 Travers Stakes wagering guide. Features picks and analysis for every stakes, exclusive bankroll article, & top 4 picks from the expert handicappers at Racingdudes.com!

Year to Date Winnings

$59,445.42

Exacta Trifecta Superfecta Daily Double
$3,508.60 $10,410.76 $15,302.60 $5,569.90
Pick 3 Pick 4 Pick 5
$13,403.60 $4,779.96 $6,470.00

Three graded stakes winners will clash in the 1 1/16-mile $200,000 West Point Handicap presented by Trustco Bank [Race 10] for 3-year-olds and up on the Mellon turf, led by Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, Peter Searles and Patty Searle’s City Man [post 5, Joel Rosario] for conditioner Christophe Clement.

A dark bay son of Mucho Macho Man, City Man made the grade last out with a rallying 2 3/4-length score in the Grade 3 Forbidden Apple going one mile on July 15 at the Spa. City Man has shown good form throughout the year, beginning with a 2 1/4-length victory in the Danger’s Hour in April at the Big A to end a four-month layoff. Though well-beaten next out in the Grade 2 Fort Marcy contested over yielding turf, he was defeated just 4 1/4 lengths in the Kingston this spring at Belmont before his Forbidden Apple score.

Bred by Moonstar Farm, the 5-year-old City Man looks to defend his title in this race after he scored in a dramatic photo finish last year by a nose over stablemate and returning rival Therapist [post 1, Irad Ortiz, Jr.]. City Man also won Saratoga’s Funny Cide as a juvenile and Aqueduct’s Gio Ponti as a sophomore.

Trainer Mike Maker sends out the two other graded winners in the field in Cross Border [post 7, Luis Saez] and Somelikeithotbrown [post 3, Tyler Gaffalione]. Cross Border, bred by Berkshire Stud and B.B. Gibbs and winner of the Spa’s Grade 2 Bowling Green in 2020 and 2021, arrives from a fifth-place finish in attempt of a third title defense in that event on July 31. The son of English Channel was a close fifth in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational earlier this year, a race he finished third in last year.

Somelikeithotbrown, bred by Hot Pink Stables and Sand Dollar Stables, won the Grade 2 Dinner Party last May at Pimlico Race Course, the 2020 Grade 2 Bernard Baruch Handicap at Saratoga, and the 2019 Grade 2 Jeff Ruby Steaks at Turfway Park. The 6-year-old Big Brown bay finished a hard-trying third in the Jonathan B. Schuster Memorial in July at Horseshoe Indianapolis before an even sixth in the Fasig-Tipton Lure on August 6 here.

Completing the field are Jerry the Nipper [post 2, Jose Lezcano], Sanctuary City [post 4, John Velazquez], Lord Flintshire [post 6, Manny Franco], Action Jackson [post 8, Flavien Prat], and Ocala Dream [post 9, Javier Castellano]. Bankit is entered for the main track only.

First post on Friday’s 11-race card is 1:05 p.m. Eastern.

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