For the 148th time, horse racing returns to the Spa at Saratoga Springs on Friday for nearly 7 weeks of sizzling action, and horse racing bettors will be hard pressed to find a venue that is more filled with quality, class and quantity.
A pair of stakes will kick off the festivities on Friday as the Grade 2 $200,000 mile and a sixteenth Lake George for 3-year-old fillies on turf is carded along with the Grade 3 6-furlong Schuylerville, for 2-year-old fillies.
Grade 1 races are all over the stakes schedule at Saratoga. On Saturday, the Grade 1 $500,000 Diana goes followed by the $300,000 Coaching Club American Stakes Oaks on Sunday.
Some of the top sophomores in the land get a chance at the big money in the $600,000 Jim Dandy at the end of July while older horses, those that could very well vie in the Breeders’ Cup Classic will line-up in the $1.25 million Whitney Stakes at a mile and an eighth.
Three-year-old fillies also will be shooting for a $600,000 purse in the Alabama Stakes in late August and the biggest day of the season will be August 27th, then 7 Graded stakes, ranging in purse value from $400,000 in the Woodford Reserved to the $1.25 million offered in the Travers Stakes, for those runners that also competed in this year’s Kentucky Derby.
All of these contests will be steppingstones to the Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita on November 4 and 5.
We’ll touch on the leading contenders for the opening day stakes a little later on but what makes this meeting stellar is that the best runners in the country show up and for bettors, the menu is accessible is easy to digest.
The minimum win, place and show, exacta, daily double, quinella, Pick 3 and Grand Slam wager is only $1 dollar. That allows players to spread more and help their chances of cashing.
The popular superfecta only has a ten-cents minimum and is has become a favorite play for big and smaller bettors alike.
For a mere fifty cents, players can get involved in trifecta, Pick 4 and Pick 5 plays while the traditional Pick 6 stays at a $2 minimum.
Let’s try to get off on the right foot for this Saratoga stand looking at the 8th race Friday, the Schuylerville. Nine will face the starter and 7 are coming off maiden-breaking wins.
As far as pedigree is concerned there are no pure blue bloods in the Schuylerville. The highest earning sibling to any of the contestants is Air Inspired half-sister Air Alaska, who earned over $200,000 but took 48 starts to do it.
Made Me Shiver will take big action after she crushed a field at Churchill Downs. Olive Branch, breaking from the rail, showed the ability to track the action winning her debut while the $750,000 purchase Sweet Loretta freaked in her opener at Monmouth but may have to run a bit faster today.
Platinum Spark got an ideal 2-hold trip in her debut after being bothered early and she has trained well for this.
But Lightning Dove gets the call in the Schuylerville. She won her debut at Keeneland in April and was wheeled back in June in the $197,000 Astoria at Belmont Park. She not only was beaten by a runner that cost $300,000 that day but she was mugged in the process.
Lightning Dove took an awkward step early, bobbled, raced greenly, was stuck behind another runner in an educational move and had to settle for 5th as the second choice. She is in the good hands of Wesley Ward, who is hitting at 25% this year and the runner is value at 8-1 on the morning line.
Make no mistake about it, the Lake George is an absolute scramble and a number of runners can win. To accentuate that fact, the favorite on the morning line is the very tepid 7-2 Ancient Secret, who is unbeaten in 3 starts with Beyer Speed Figures escalating.
Ancient Secret is trained by 24% conditioner Chad Brown, but we are going to select his other trainee, the 5-1 Elysea’s World, who has not raced since June 5. The filly broke her maiden at first asking in France so she has a shot to fire fresh. She beat winners in her U.S. debut and was caught 6 wide in her last, a $200,000 stakes.
The horse that ran third to Elysea’s World in her debut ran second next out in an $89,000 stakes in France.
Elysea’s World has trained fast for this, should settle and make one desperate run.
Let’s get lucky, but remember, this is a long and testing meet and there will be plenty of opportunities.
