Saratoga Snacks Looking to Feast

Saratoga Snacks will try to claim his fourth win of the year and eighth lifetime when he leads the field to the gate as the 4-5 morning line favorite for the $100,000 Alex M. Robb Stakes at Aqueduct on Saturday. Restricted to New York foaled three-year-olds and upward, the race will be run at 1 1/16 miles on the Aqueduct dirt course. Eight runners are expected to go to the gate barring any late scratches. The race wil go as number eight on the nine-race card.

Favorite out of the money only once in eleven

A four-year-old son of Tale of the Cat, Saratoga Snacks has had an exceptional campaign among NY-breds, counting three stakes victories in his total. He has never been worse than third in any of his races except for last time out, when he tried stepping up to Grade I company for the Cigar Mile, but he stumbled badly coming out of the gate and was likely well overmatched, finishing eighth in an exceptional field. Prior to that he won the Empire Classic Handicap at Belmont over several he’ll face in here.

Awesome Vision seeking consistency

One of those is the 4-1 second choice in Awesome Vision, who has had something of an erratic last few starts. Although sixth in the Empire Classic and eighth previous to that in the Ashley Cole Stakes, he sandwiched those two efforts between a win in the Saratoga Sunrise Stakes and most recently a win in the Move It Now Stakes. At 8-1, West Hills Giant started 2013 with high hopes, coming second in the Grade III Gotham, before being a well-beaten 12^th in the Grade I Bluegrass. He’s since picked up two stakes wins in New York as well.