Schuylerville fair odds: Prepare for East vs. Midwest battle

As of Sunday, the first-crop sire race was separated by less than $10,000 with Vekoma holding a slight edge over Complexity.

Two of their fastest runners to date will square off in the Schuylerville on Thursday at Saratoga. While Complexion is the morning-line favorite, I see Viggiedal as the most likely winner of the $175,000 race for 2-year-old fillies going six furlongs on opening day.

Another battle between the two is that Complexion debuted in New York while Viggiedal burst on the scene in Kentucky. All 11 entrants have raced exclusively in those two racing powers. I give a slight edge to Viggiedal’s bow because of her faster Brisnet pace rating. Both fillies won in gate-to-wire fashion, but Viggiedal was quicker early. They earned equal Ragozin Sheets figures.

That difference in pace rating is enough to give Viggiedal the nod, but this is a competitive race. It is worth looking at the board before deciding on a final play. For multi-race purposes, though, there could be value in leaning on Viggiedal since she is a longer price on the morning line.

Based on the morning line, the father-son team of Mark and Norm Casse have potential value plays drawn inside. The elder Casse has Sherbini, an off-the-pace winner of her career debut who could be running on late again against these. Son Norman has Slang, who lost to next-out stakes winner Vodka With a Twist on debut before pressing the pace and kicking on second-time out. 

There are dsome certain underlays in here, and to steal a feature of Mike Shutty’s Super Screener, the Schuylerville has a high playability score.