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Sat 20/08/2016 - 08:55 EDT

Picks And Preview For The Alabama Stakes

In the premier race for three-year-old fillies at the Saratoga summer meet, it will be a case of Songbird (1-5 in the morning line) and everyone else, as the super filly goes for her 10th straight career victory.

While there is never a sure thing in racing, the Medaglia d'Oro filly looks as sure as you can get, being undefeated lifetime, and having won her five races so far in 2016 by an average of five lengths. She's been doing it against quality fields as well, and probably faced her toughest test last out in the (G1) Coaching Club American Oaks over the Saratoga dirt, and walked away with a 5 1/4-length win.

With Songbird in the field, all except one of the other six horses are in double-digit ML odds, and so the idea is to put her on top of the ticket and hope to find a couple big prices underneath. The other filly in single digits at 8-1 is Go Maggie Go, who has three wins in five starts, although she was fourth in both of her Grade 1 efforts, including last out in the Acorn Stakes at Belmont in June. With most of the field stretching out to 1 1/4 miles for the first time, Family Tree (10-1) may benefit the most from the added distance, and comes in off a pair of graded stakes wins in the (G3) Iowa Oaks and (G2) Indiana Oaks. If nothing else, Flora Dora gets credit for tackling Songbird more than once in the past, and could be around to pick up a minor award.

The Alabama Stakes goes Saturday, August 20 from Saratoga. Post time is 6:18 PM Eastern.

AdvantageWagering Picks

1) #6 - Songbird

2) #5 - Family Tree

3) #4 - Go Maggie Go

4) #7 - Flora Dora