{"id":342239,"date":"2025-08-13T22:10:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T22:10:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/342239\/"},"modified":"2025-08-13T22:10:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T22:10:13","slug":"drfs-horse-racing-playbook-for-thursday-august-14-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/342239\/","title":{"rendered":"DRF’s Horse Racing Playbook for Thursday, August 14, 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since 1894, Daily Racing Form has been the most trusted source of horse racing news and information, making horseplayers better bettors by cashing more tickets. Here is a free daily playbook \u2013 something hardcore horseplayers and casual observers can reference to get informed of each day\u2019s action. DRF Past Performances (PPs) can be accessed at DRF.com. <\/a><\/p>\n

DRF handicappers share their plays for the day, including best bets, for racing at Saratoga, Del Mar, and Colonial Downs.<\/p>\n

Post Time:<\/strong> 12:59 ET
Track:<\/strong> Colonial Downs (2nd Race)
Horse:<\/strong> GRAMPS (#2, 4-1) <\/p>\n

GRAMPS is one of two switching surfaces in their second start in this field, and McPeek has made the move at a 27% clip in the past five years (12-for-44, $2.69 ROI); there’s little to learn from his debut, as he did no running against a stronger field on turf, so it comes down to trusting the trainer and the pedigree; sire Bolt d’Oro certainly makes more sense this time around. \u2013 Patrick Moquin | Get Past Performances for this race<\/a><\/p>\n

Post Time:<\/strong> 2:18 ET
Track:<\/strong> Saratoga (3rd Race)
Horse:<\/strong> LEADING ROLE (#5, 6-1) <\/p>\n

LEADING ROLE was off a bit slowly, and he still looked green while trying a wide run around the turn in his debut on this surface; has shown improved speed since starting back this year; interesting at a price as he gets back to turf for a dangerous trainer. \u2013 Mike Beer | Get Past Performances for this race<\/a><\/p>\n

Post Time:<\/strong> 2:52 ET
Track:<\/strong> Saratoga (4th Race)
Horse:<\/strong> BOB’S CARROT (#4, 9-2) <\/p>\n

BOB’S CARROT is a DRF Best Bet (Mike Beer). | Get Past Performances for this race<\/a><\/p>\n

Post Time:<\/strong> 3:25 ET
Track:<\/strong> Colonial Downs (7th Race)
Horse:<\/strong> SERENE SPIRIT (#9, 6-1) <\/p>\n

SERENE SPIRIT is a DRF Best Bet (Patrick Moquin). | Get Past Performances for this race<\/a><\/p>\n

Post Time:<\/strong> 8:07 ET
Track:<\/strong> Del Mar (7th Race)
Horse:<\/strong> DEFIANCE (#2, 6-1)<\/p>\n

The gradually improving turf filly DEFIANCE, fast-closing third last out at one mile, should relish a mile and three-eighths. Sired by Curlin and produced by two-time G1 turf-route winner Avenge, DEFIANCE ran the race of her career last out. She ran faster each successive quarter-mile including a :23.14 come-home in which she passed most of the field. She stretches to three turns and can handle this entry-level allowance. \u2013 Brad Free | Get Past Performances for this race<\/a><\/p>\n

Post Time:<\/strong> 8:37 ET
Track:<\/strong> Del Mar (8th Race)
Horse:<\/strong> FRIENDS WITH FIDEL (#3, 8-1) <\/p>\n

FRIENDS WITH FIDEL drops to maiden-20 for the first time and tries two turns for the first time. He ran well last out at a higher level, runner-up in a sprint. ‘FIDEL meets a rather ordinary field here; it is the perfect spot for a class-drop stretch-out victory. \u2013 Brad Free | Get Past Performances for this race<\/a><\/p>\n

Meet DRFai – Your Horse Racing Personal Assistant. Got a question about a race? Need help picking a winner? DRFai delivers instant, expert-level answers to all your handicapping questions. Try it now at chat.drf.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Since 1894, Daily Racing Form has been the most trusted source of horse racing news and information, making…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":342240,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4107],"tags":[1071,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-342239","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-racing","8":"tag-racing","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115023749117798229","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=342239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/342240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=342239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=342239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=342239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}