Racing Dudes Three Stars of the Week: West Coast is the Best Coast

Travers Day at Saratoga is one of the biggest events on the horse racing calendar, and last Saturday’s action lived up to the billing. Several tremendous races highlighted a card that ended up being great for betting purposes and exciting for all racing fans. While we did see nice performances at Del Mar last weekend, the Three Stars of the Week all came from the Spa. Check out who made the list:

1. West Coast

Remember two years ago when people were saying Bob Baffert would never come back to Saratoga after American Pharoah was defeated in the Travers Stakes by Keen Ice? Those people must be feeling foolish now, as Baffert has now won the Travers two years in a row. Last year, Arrogate burst onto the scene, setting a track record in a runaway win, while this year, West Coast came in and won fairly easily by over 3 lengths in wire-to-wire fashion. West Coast had been thought of as Baffert’s best 3-year-old once Mastery was injured, and he proved that on Saturday. A win like this could put him under consideration for the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

2. Lady Eli

As we tweeted out on Saturday: rooting for Lady Eli is like rooting for America! This horse is all class and truly a pleasure to watch each time that she steps on the race track. After watching many fillies lose form after a year or two of racing, it makes you appreciate her consistency over an extended period of time. She made her last start at Saratoga a memorable one and will now be pointed to Belmont Park for her next race before ending the year at the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar.

3. Drefong

After the disaster at Del Mar where he lost the jockey right out of the gate, Drefong came back to get redemption at The Spa when dominating his rivals in the Grade 1 Forego. Jockey Mike Smith rode him hard out of the gate, and easily got the early lead. From that point is was over…nobody was catching him. The win likely catapults him back to number one in the sprinter rankings as his main challenge Mind Your Biscuits did not fire his normal race. Drefong has now beaten Mind Your Biscuits three times.