Identifying track bias at Saratoga and Del Mar early in the meet

With so much focus on Saratoga and Del Mar, we wanted to take a look at some of the track trends early in the meet. A great way to give yourself a better chance to win is to be up to date on all the track trends at every track you're playing. 

As always, you can look up any of these trends yourself using Horse Racing Nation's Track Trends Tool. 

Saratoga main track 

Dirt sprints 

With a field size of only 7.3, I tend not to put a lot of stock into the posts here, but it is worth noting that dirt sprints are playing forward. Only 6 percent of winners have come from more than 4 lengths back at the first call. 

Dirt routes

Dirt routes also have very short fields, but it's worth noting that 50 percent of winners are coming from the lead or very close to it. 

Saratoga turf course 

Turf sprints are trending inside

OK, this is interesting. With an average field size of eight, 75 percent of races have been won by posts 1-3. This is a trend very much worth watching, not only this week but when these horses run back later this meet.  

Turf routes

Most of the turf routes at Saratoga have been run over the inner turf course so far, and overall it is playing fair. 

Del Mar main track 

Dirt sprints - inside not great

Del Mar is only one week into the meet, but we already can see a trend starting to develop. For dirt sprints, the inside posts seem to be at a disadvantage. Not only that, the outside posts seem to have no disadvantage being wide. From a run-style perspective, stalking seems to be the way to go. 

Dirt routes 

Del With only five races so far, it's tough to predict trends. But we can see that was with dirt sprints, the inside posts might be at a disadvantage. This is definitely something to keep a watch on. 

Del Mar turf 

Turf sprints

There have been only two turf sprints so far, so we'll cover that in the future once there is more data.

Turf routes - playing to closers

Del Mar is getting some terrific fields on the turf with an average field of 11.8 runners. Those type of field sizes will produce some great wagering opportunities. So far, only 9 percent of these races have been won by early types, with a whopping 64 percent won by closers. In addition, 45 percent of winners have come from posts 1-3, which makes saving ground easier. It's worth noting that these types of results can be partially produced by larger fields, so we should watch whether these trends play the same in smaller fields later in the meet. 

Good luck with Saratoga and Del Mar. It's a great time of year with so much great wagering across the country, especially Monmouth, Colonial, Delaware, Ellis Park and other tracks in addition to the big ones.