Just 24 hours away from the start of the much anticipated season, possibly the last under NYRA control, with an A-list jockey colony and many great races in the making!
With 21,000 + attending just the open house on Sunday, with only steeplechasing as live racing, this year could be a banner one. That is more people then have attended some other track meets on the day of their signature race!
Wednesday is pronounced by the Schuylerville Stakes (G3) for 2-yr old fillies at 6 furlongs.
The horses aside, you’ll have Julien Leparoux, Edgar Prado, Kent Desormeaux, Calvin Borel, Garrett Gomez, Johnny Velazquez, Sean Bridgmohan, and Eibar Coa riding in that race alone.
An interesting 2-yr old filly in the Schuylerville, based upon her ownership:
According to Plan, trained by Barclay Tagg and owned by a partnership that includes NYRA chairman Steve Duncker and NYRA president and CEO Charlie Hayward, won her debut by 4 1/4 lengths while running five furlongs in 56.21 seconds. She came back with a solid four-furlong work over the weekend at Saratoga.
“She’s gotten pretty aggressive,” said Robin Smullen, Tagg’s assistant. “She was aggressive before, but now she’s like sitting on top of the world. She thinks she’s all that.”
DRF 7-24-07 “Plenty to get excited about at the Spa”
The backstretch is filling up with some of the game’s highest-profile runners, led by Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense, Preakness winner Curlin. If Street Sense runs in Sunday’s Jim Dandy as expected, he will be the first Derby winner to run here during his 3-year-old season since Thunder Gulch in 1995. While Curlin is preparing for the $1 million Haskell at Monmouth on Aug. 5, there is hope for a Street Sense-Curlin showdown in the $1 million Travers on Aug. 25.
Saturday’s Grade 1 Whitney is expected to draw a competitive and large field from which a new handicap division leader could emerge to replace the recently retired Invasor. Flashy Bull, Brass Hat, Magna Graduate, and Papi Chullo head the field.
The $750,000 Whitney was moved from the second Saturday of the meet to the first Saturday to accommodate the new Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series. The Whitney will be run on the same card with the Diana, Go for Wand, and Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap. The winners of those four races earn automatic berths into their respective Breeders’ Cup races this fall at Monmouth Park.
TVG is broadcasting exclusively the Saratoga races (HRTV gets the snub for live races) save for ABC/ESPN who gets some of the finest action.
Saturday July 28th is a don’t miss day for racing on ABC Sports and in fact Saratoga/NYRA reworked the race cards to accomodate the tv schedule!
On Saturday, Saratoga will stage its richest-ever day of racing, with four graded stakes worth $1.7 million on an 11-race card boasting more than $2.1 million in total purses. The four graded events serve as the inaugural legs of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge. Under the new “Win and You’re In” format, the winner of each race will earn an automatic berth in the corresponding Breeders’ Cup event on October 27 at Monmouth Park.
The victor of the $750,000 Whitney H. (G1), for three-year-olds and up at 1 1/8 miles, will be guaranteed a spot in the starting gate for the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1). Accordingly, the winner of the $500,000 Diana S. (G1) for distaffers at nine grassy furlongs will secure a place in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1), the heroine of the $250,000 Go for Wand H. (G1) at 1 1/8 miles will gain a berth in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1), and the fastest speedster in the $200,000 Alfred G. Vanderbilt H. (G2) at six furlongs will book his ticket to the Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1).
In order to accommodate ABC’s live, two-hour coverage of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge beginning at 4 p.m. (EDT), the race schedule has been changed. The Go for Wand will now be carded as the 7TH race, the Vanderbilt as the 8TH, the Diana as the 9TH and the Whitney as the 10TH.
Some great stuff!
