Super Screener preview: Upset is brewing in the Vigil Stakes

Horse Racing Nation
 
Super Screener preview: Upset is brewing in the Vigil Stakes

Patches? We don't need no stinkin' Patches.

That is the mantra of Mike Shutty as he takes an authoritative stand against the 7-5 morning-line favorite in the Grade 3 Vigil Stakes on Saturday at Woodbine, no. 6 Patches O'Houlihan.

The Vigil is one of seven graded stakes covered in this weekend's Super Screener with three other Grade 1 races from Woodbine among the septet along with a trio from Churchill Downs. It kicks off the 20-cent, mandatory-payout Pick 6. It is leg 2 of the $250,000 guaranteed Pick 5. And it is the final leg of the middle Pick 4.

"It's as if the race is already being conceded to the speedster Patches O'Houlihan, but not so fast," Shutty said. "No question he is the horse to beat as an improving 3-year-old with upside against older horses and is a commanding pace presence, but no. 1 Rockcrest has prodigious early foot, while no. 8 My Buddy B also brings dirt speed to the affair.

"Yes, Patches O'Houlihan may very well run this field off its feet, but it is the Super Screener top long-shot pick, no. 3 Souper Watson, that draws far more wagering interest. He projects to improve off his last and will get a setup as a closer here."

Shutty recommends a win bet on Souper Watson and, in an all-graded stakes Pick 3 grid, has about a third of the combos going through this long shot. That Pick 3 begins and ends with a pair of Grade 1 Breeders' Cup win-and-you're-ins for juvenile turfers on the Woodbine Mile undercard, the Summer Stakes for males and the Natalma for fillies.