Let’s get back to work. After more than three months of jump racing at Saratoga, Colonial Downs and Aqueduct, the schedule turns to its more traditional stops with a full schedule of autumn race meets through Nov. 13. The action starts Saturday at Shawan Downs outside Baltimore, where eight races fill the card. The horses … Read more
Welcome to September. The final week of the 2022 Saratoga Race Course meeting kicked into gear Wednesday, the first of a six-day run to bring the curtain down on the best place on earth. We’re catching up and squeezing content into the last couple issues of The Saratoga Special, and also trying to feature some … Read more
Epicenter leaves no doubt who the top 3-year-old of 2022 is with a victory in Saturday’s Travers Stakes, the first in Steve Asmussen’s storied career. Owned by Winchell Thoroughbreds, the Kentucky Derby and Preakness runner-up went 2-for-2 at the meet with a Jim Dandy win to start the double. Saturday’s jammed stakes lineup also saw … Read more
Week 7 of the 2022 Saratoga Race Course meeting comes to a close Sunday with a 10-race card topped by the Grade 1 Ballerina Handicap for older fillies and mares and Better Talk Now for 3-year-olds on the grass. Champion female sprinter Ce Ce returns to Saratoga for the 7-furlong Ballerina and takes on a … Read more
Big horse for a big day. Jim Dandy Stakes winner Epicenter tackles the Travers while looking to take hold of the 3-year-old division in a strong field which includes Haskell winner Cyberknife, Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike, Preakness winner Early Voting, Curlin winner Artorius, Blue Grass winner Zandon, Iowa Derby winner Ain’t Life Grand and … Read more
Travers Weekend is here and everything kicks off with the annual Saratoga Showcase Day card for New York-breds. Eleven races are on tap, including six stakes, and the handicappers are hungry for some winners. Here are the picks for Friday, Aug. 26. Good luck. JOHN SHAPAZIAN (104/315):1-Maple Leaf Mel, Miracle, Song Parody.2-Photon, Funny How, Clement … Read more
Travers Week kicked off Wednesday and rolls along Thursday with a 10-race card topped by the $135,000 Riskaverse Stakes for 3-year-old fillies on the grass. A field of 11 entered the Riskaverse, a restricted 1-mile stakes on the inner turf for fillies which have not won a sweepstakes other than state-bred at 1 mile or … Read more
Nest. Brilliant again. The 3-year-old filly added her second Grade 1 of the meet with a romp in the 1 1/4-mile Alabama Stakes for Todd Pletcher and Irad Ortiz Jr. She’s the star of the meet, with a big weekend coming up for some of the others. Plus, we catch up with Caravel, Haughty and … Read more
And then there were two. Well, almost two. Weeks that is, remaining in the 2022 Saratoga Race Course meeting. Where did your summer go? Where did ours go? OK, maybe we won’t get into the trials and tribulations that went into the 22nd season of The Saratoga Special. We have four issues remaining, and big … Read more
Alabama Day is here. Coaching Club American Oaks winner Nest, breezing on the main track last week, faces off with Secret Oath, Gerrymander and Nostalgic in field of seven. Saturday’s edition also previews the Lake Placid and the Smart And Fancy stakes, goes on a Fasig-Tipton Stable Tour with Danny Gargan and plenty more. Oh, … Read more
The weekend is here, and another strong card at Saratoga Race Course awaits. A 10-race program topped by a strong renewal of the $135,000 Summery Colony for older females and a puzzling edition of the $150,000 Skidmore for 2-year-olds sprinting on the grass is set for Friday. The handicappers dug into those races, and the … Read more
