SARATOGA SPRINGS – Historic Saratoga Race Course, the upstate place-to-be, throws open its gates today for a sizzling six-week stand, concluding Labor Day, Sept. 3. Live racing will be held six days a week, with Tuesdays dark. Post time is 1 p.m.
The opening-day Schuylerville at six furlongs, one of 35 stakes at the meet, typifies the competitive racing found every summer at the Old Spa. Eight 2-year-old fillies will contest the Grade 2, $100,000 dash, with seven of them having won their last or next-to-last race.
The one filly who didn’t, Kentucky shipper Lakeside Cup, is the pick under Pat Day.
Bernie Flint, Churchill Downs’ leading trainer, saddles Lakeside Cup, who broke her maiden first out in April, then racked up a pair of thirds and a second. One loss came against colts in a Grade 3 stakes, and in her last pair she ran into a buzzsaw, Cashier’s Dream, who’ll be seen later this meet in the Adirondack.
Lakeside Cup has far-and-away the best Beyer Speed Figure in the field (an 87, run last out in the Debutante at Churchill), and she’s bred top-and-bottom to love Saratoga. Her sire, Salt Lake, won the Hopeful here, and her damsire, Phone Trick, sired 2-year-old champ Favorite Trick, winner of the Sanford and Hopeful.
Baby Nance, winner of her only start at Belmont Park by 33/4 lengths, is the one to fear under Edgar Prado.”She galloped out very strongly in her race,” said trainer Bobby Barbara. “She has the body of a colt.”
Also today, last season’s 2-year-old champion, Macho Uno, makes his first start since winning the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Nov. 4. The Holy Bull colt goes in a seven-furlong allowance, the eighth race on the card. He faces a tough task coming back from a layoff against some hard-hitting sprinters.
Betting at this meet should dwarf the record of nearly $119 million handled last summer, thanks to a reduction in takeout – the first in 15 years – set to begin today.
The take (the amount the track keeps from each betting pool) drops from 15 to 14 percent on straight bets, 20 to 17.5 on exotics, and 25 to 20 on the pick six when there is no carryover.
The National Weather Service estimates precipitation will be much lower this season than last, when rain the first three weeks played havoc with turf racing and produced many short fields. Also, there will be increased simulcast wagering.
This morning is your last chance to sign up for NYRA’s new internet contest, “Saratoga Sudden Death.”
By noon each day, pick one horse on the card to finish in the top three. You’re eliminated if your horse finishes worse than third. The final survivor of the meet – the contestant whose horses go the longest finishing 1-2-3 – wins a $5,000 betting voucher. Entry is free. Register at http://www.nyra.com/sarsuddendeath.
Today’s “Sudden Death” pick: Here’s Zealous in the eighth.