The Todd Pletcher-trained Happy Saver will try to join an elite list of back-to-back winners of the Jockey Club Gold Cup when he leaves the starting gate on Saturday at Saratoga Race Course. Last year, Happy Saver capped off an undefeated three-year-old campaign when he won the Jockey Club Gold Cup, which was then run at Belmont Park. On Saturday at the 2021 Jockey Club Gold Cup at Saratoga, he will attempt to become the 11th horse to win consecutive editions of the prestigious dirt race for older horses, joining Nashua, Shuvee, Slew o' Gold, Skip Away and Curlin, among others.
Happy Saver is 9-5 in the 2021 Jockey Club Gold Cup odds. Forza Di Oro is the 8-5 morning-line favorite in the 2021 Jockey Club Gold Cup field. Post time is 6:46 p.m. ET. With a well-accomplished field set to enter the starting gate, you'll want to see what racing insider Bob Weir has to say before making any Jockey Club Gold Cup picks.
Based in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., Weir has been handicapping and following horse racing since reading Andy Beyer's landmark handicapping book "Picking Winners" in the late 1980s. Weir is highly invested in the Beyer Speed Figure, a number assigned to every race run by a horse that measures how fast the horse ran. He uses the figure as the backbone of his handicapping. In fact, thanks to his proficiency with speed figures and top-tier handicapping, he landed one of just eight spots on Beyer's figure-making team in 2017, a position he holds to this day.
This year, he has crushed the 3-year-old races. He hit the exacta in the Sam F. Davis Stakes, Tampa Bay Derby and Peter Pan Stakes, the trifecta in the Risen Star Stakes and Blue Grass Stakes and the superfecta in the Belmont Stakes. Those are just some of his scores in 2021.
Now, he has handicapped the 2021 Jockey Club Gold Cup field, made his picks and constructed his bets. See them here.
Top 2021 Jockey Club Gold Cup predictions
One surprise: Weir does not have Forza Di Oro, as one of his top two picks, even though the horse is the 8-5 favorite. Trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, this son of Speightstown has won his last three starts and has four wins in six career races. In his last race, he returned from an almost eight-month layoff to win an allowance race by three easy lengths.
On Saturday, Forza Di Oro steps up in competition, as he has never even started in a Grade 2 race. "He gets his first attempt in a Grade 1, and though this isn't the toughest Grade 1 field, it's still the toughest field he's faced," Weir told SportsLine. Weir prefers two horses more than Forza Di Oro.
How to make 2021 Jockey Club Gold Cup picks, bets
Weir's top pick is a horse who is in "career-best form." Weir is including this horse in his 2021 Jockey Club Gold Cup bets, and so should you. He's sharing which horses to back only at SportsLine.
So who wins the 2021 Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes? And how has Weir constructed his wagers? Check out the latest Jockey Club Gold Cup odds below, then visit SportsLine to see Weir's picks for the Jockey Club Gold Cup 2021.
2021 Jockey Club Gold Cup odds, horses, field, lineup, contenders
| Program # | Horse | Odds |
| 1 | Forza Di Oro | 8-5 |
| 2 | Max Player | 5-2 |
| 3 | Chess Chief | 15-1 |
| 4 | Happy Saver | 9-5 |
| 5 | Night Ops | 5-1 |
| 6 | Forewarned | 50-1 |
