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The 103rd edition of the six-furlong Schuylerville fittingly saw the ownership group of the late Saratoga icon and philanthropist capture a graded stakes during the lid-lifter of the 40-day meet. To accomplish the feat, Pretty Birdie wasted no time breaking sharply from the inside post under Luis Saez, leading the seven-horse field through an opening quarter-mile in 22.29 seconds, a half in 45.82 and three-quarters in 58.40 on the fast main track.

Mainstay, who broke from post 2 under Frankie Pennington and tracked in second position in every point of call, made a late bid out of the turn, but Saez kept his charge to task, completing the course in a 1:12.32 final time.

“This is where she felt the most alive,” said owner John Hendrickson, who was married to Whitney until her passing in July 2019. “This is the way she is alive and she has a win on opening day. It's pretty special. This is a dream come true for me and Marylou. Things getting back to normal and winning on Opening Day, she's throwing a party. She said 'I want to race, get back to work.'

“It means so much,” Hendrickson added. “The smiling faces and having Saratoga back the way it should be and having a win. It's very special.”

Pretty Birdie's gate-to-wire score was the second career graded stakes win for trainer Norm Casse and his first in New York. The Kentucky homebred, a daughter of Bird Song, improved to 2-for-2 following her debut win in June at Churchill Downs.

“I feel like she was a little more green today. She didn't want to switch leads down the lane,” Casse said. “I was a little bit concerned about that as she was finishing, but I think that was just her seeing a new place. This was the first time she had even come over here. I kept her on the Oklahoma [training track] side the entire week she's been here.”

Off at 5-2, Pretty Birdie returned $7.60 on a $2 win wager. Casse said the next target for her is the Grade 1, $300,000 Spinaway on September 5 at Saratoga.

“I think she was just gawking around and maybe even waiting on the other horse,” Casse said. “Those are things we'll fix before we run her in the Spinaway next.”

Saez won his second career Schuylerville, joining Off the Tracks in 2015.

“She's very fast,” said Saez, who finished the day with three wins. “I could feel it. She was on her toes. She broke from there pretty quick and we controlled the pace. When we came to the top of the stretch, she was running. I was pretty happy with her.

“She was a little tired [late in the lane] but she was go,” he added. “Nice filly.”

Mainstay, a half-sister to reigning 2-year-old champion filly Vequist trained by Butch Reid, Jr. was a 7 3/4-length first-out winner in June at Monmouth Park. Making her Saratoga bow, the Astern filly finished 5 1/4 lengths clear of Saucy Lady T for second.

“I think she ran well,” Reid, Jr. said. “It was a quality horse that beat her. My jockey was a little upset that she wasn't standing quite right in the gate and they snapped it before she was really ready. She had one leg that was underneath the next stall. I think maybe if she breaks a little better, who knows, but she didn't get away from the gate clean.”

Velvet Sister, Cartel Queen, Eagle Express and Queen Camilla completed the order of finish. Pipeline Girl and Happy Soul, the 8-5 morning-line favorite, scratched.

Live racing resumes Friday with a 10-race card highlighted by the Grade 3, $150,000 Forbidden Apple for 4-year-olds and up going one mile on the inner turf in Race 9 at 5:39 p.m. Eastern. First post is 1:05 p.m.

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Split divisions of juvenile filly sprinters get the Saratoga baby race season underway on opening day Thursday, with this latter half appearing to be clearly the saltier spot on paper. Heads turned when a filly by thus-far unheralded freshman sire Valiant Minister hammered for $360,000–120 times the Bridlewood Farm resident's stud fee–at OBS April, but one viewing of OUTFOXED's breeze-show effort quickly explains why. The dark bay barreled through a powerful :20 4/5 quarter-mile work, sparking a bidding war that ended with Solis/Litt as the last entity standing on behalf of LNJ Foxwoods. The Bill Mott trainee shows a modest local worktab, but did work a half-mile in :49 flat (3/12) from the gate on the Oklahoma training track June 25. Two other debutantes have live looks in Solasta (Goldencents) and Echo Zulu (Gun Runner). The former, owned by Jeff Drown and Don Rachel, is a half-sister to GISW Mia Mischief who cost $300,000 as a Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearling buy. The bay has breezed sharply for Jeremiah Englehart, including a best-of-31 bullet half-mile from the gate over this strip in :47 3/5 July 1. The latter, who goes out for L and N Racing and Winchell Thoroughbreds, is a half to last summer's GI H. Allen Jerkens S. hero Echo Town (Speightstown) and GSW J Boys Echo (Mineshaft). She sports a four-furlong gate bullet of her own, going the distance in :47 2/5 (1/44) June 15 at Keeneland. One of only two horses in the 10-horse group with racing experience, Pop-A-Top's Lady Scarlet (Union Rags) gets the slight nod on the morning line at 5-2 after showing good speed and finishing a clear second for Brad Cox in the opener June 4 at Churchill. TJCIS PPs

—@JBiancaTDN

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Owned by Paul Pompa, Jr., Country Grammer broke his maiden traveling nine furlongs at second asking in November at Aqueduct Racetrack for his only previous victory. After running fifth in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth in November at Gulfstream and third against allowance company on June 4 at Belmont, Country Grammer returned to 1 1/8 miles and responded with his first career stakes score. His win earned 50 qualifying points to the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby in September at Churchill Downs.

Updated Kentucky Derby leaderboard

Under jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr., who won the Belmont spring/summer meet riding title, Country Grammer stalked in fourth position as Mo Hawk led the nine-horse field through the opening quarter-mile in 23.24 seconds, the half in 48.13 and three-quarters in 1:12.35 on the fast main track.

Out of the final turn, Ortiz, Jr. angled Country Grammer near the rail, while Caracaro made a strong bid under Hall of Famer Javier Castellano from his outside. The duo linked up in the stretch for an exciting final furlong before the Chad Brown trainee prevailed, hitting the wire in a final time of 1:49.79.

“Irad gave him a beautiful ride. He took advantage of his inside post,” Brown said. “He trains that way and he's a bit of a grinder. He's a long-distance horse and we've been wanting to get him back out to a mile and an eighth.”

While Country Grammer earned points to go to Kentucky, Brown said he could be staying at Saratoga in the immediate future with a spot in the Grade 1, $1 million Runhappy Travers on August 8 a likely spot.

“Obviously, the logical thing is to point him to the Travers at a mile and a quarter,” Brown said. “I don't think he'll have a problem with the distance. We'll have to see if he's good enough. He hasn't run many times and there's room for improvement there. It's a race we hoped to get him to, and I'll talk to Mr. Pompa about it.”

Brown is coming off another title as the leading trainer in the Belmont spring/summer meet and has also captured the Saratoga training crowns the previous two summer meets. Though this year's lid-lifter at the Spa was different without spectators in attendance in compliance with New York State guidelines, Brown said it's always special to win at a track that dates its history to 1863.

“It's really nice to win this race but definitely a bittersweet day when this beautiful place is empty where I grew up,” said Brown, a native of nearby Mechanicville, N.Y. “We'll try to get through the meet and hold out hope that maybe it will open more during the meet, but there's no guarantees about that. We'll do the best we can and we're grateful they're running here. Hopefully, this is the only year we have to do this.

“NYRA has really done a good job,” he added. “It feels very safe on the backside training in the morning. It's well organized and I think it's a very safe environment.”

Off at 4-1, Country Grammer returned $10.20 on a $2 win wager. The bay colt is a son of Tonalist, who won the 2014 Belmont Stakes in upsetting California Chrome's Triple Crown bid.

“He's a fighter. He has a great trainer and he [Country Grammer] had something left at the end,” Ortiz, Jr. said. “Chad's horses finish really good. I never gave up and I was lucky he came back.”

Caracaro, conditioned by Gustavo Delgado, was making his first stakes appearance and just his third start overall. The Uncle Mo colt finished 3 ¼ lengths in front of 8-5 favorite Mystic Guide for second, racking up 20 qualifying points for the runner-up effort.

“I had a beautiful trip. I like the way it set up. My horse usually likes to go to the lead and tries to dictate the pace,” Castellano said. “He broke a little sideways out of the gate. I decided not to rush and put him in the lead, and just let him develop himself. I think he got tired the last part of the race, he hadn't run in such a long time. I'm very satisfied with how he did it today. He was only beat a little bit and I'm not disappointed at all. I'm excited for his future.”

Mystic Guide, trained by Michael Stidham, earned 10 points for third.

Celtic Striker finished fourth, garnering five points. Modernist, Chestertown, Candy Tycoon, Mo Hawk and Katzarelli completed the order of finish.

Handle on the 10-race Opening Day card was $19,100,297, a 21 percent increase over the 2019 Opening Day handle of 15,754,227.

Live racing resumes Friday with a 10-race card featuring the $85,000 De La Rose for older fillies and mares in Race 7 and the $85,000 Shine Again, also for fillies and mares 4-years-old and up, in Race 9. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern.

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Trained by Timothy Hamm, who co-owns the dark bay juvenile daughter of Into Mischief with Siena Farm, Dayoutoftheoffice arrived at the six-furlong event for 2-year-old fillies off a 4 3/4-length maiden triumph on debut traveling 4 1/2-furlongs at Gulfstream Park.

Piloted by Junior Alvarado, Dayoutoftheoffice broke sharply from post 7 and tracked in third to the outside of frontrunners Make Mischief and Hara with the former establishing command, leading the field through an opening quarter-mile in 22.29 seconds on the main track rated fast.

At the top of the stretch, Hara had dropped out of contention while Dayoutoftheoffice began making her winning move with Make Mischief up front to catch. Approaching the three-sixteenths pole, Dayoutoftheoffice took command with Hopeful Princess making a late bid to the far outside. But there was no catching Dayoutoftheoffice, who drew away to a six-length victory in a final time of 1:10.43 over Make Mischief who was another length to the better of Hopeful Princess.

Completing the full order of finish were Hara, Queen Arella and Quinoa Tifah.

Beautiful Memories, the 1-2 post time favorite, was pulled up around the far turn and walked home under her own power. Sunny Isle Beach was scratched.

“Last time in the first sixteenth of a mile, it took her a little bit to get going, so my goal today was to get a good position,” Alvarado said. “I knew she would handle the distance fine today. She broke good and put me in a good spot and I was for sure a smiling person the whole way around. I knew what I had under me and she responded very well when I asked her turning for home.”

The victory marked a third career graded stakes triumph for Hamm, who had not struck gold at such caliber since winning Keeneland's Grade 3 Appalachian with Afternoon Stroll in 2009.

Hamm said he was hoping for his filly to be sitting just off the pace, and he got exactly what he wanted.

“We knew there would be a lot of speed, but I thought if we could be third or fourth early, we'd have a big chance. When I saw her coming into the turn laying third, I thought we had a shot,” Hamm said. “We got the trip we were hoping to get. In the paddock, he [jockey Junior Alvarado] said to me, 'Into the turn if you could pick a spot for me to be, where would that be?' I said third right outside the speed. When I saw him laying there, I said, 'Wow we're still alive.'”

After banking $55,000 in victory, Dayoutoftheoffice enhanced her lifetime earnings to $79,000 and is unbeaten in two starts. She rewarded her backers in payouts of $41.60 for a $2 win bet.

Bred in Kentucky by co-owner Siena Farm, Dayoutoftheoffice is out of the Indian Charlie broodmare Gottahaveadream.

Jockey Jose Ortiz, aboard beaten favorite Beautiful Memories, said that his filly had a small cut on her right front leg.

“She stumbled out of the gate and was traveling OK, but she was getting a lot of dirt in her face,” Ortiz said. “Going into the turn, she switched leads and I noticed she wasn't traveling well, so I decided to take care of her. It was a tough decision to make. She had a small cut on her right front. I don't think it's serious.”

Live racing returns on Friday afternoon with a 10-race card which features the $85,000 De La Rose for fillies and mares going one mile over the inner turf and the $85,000 Shine Again for fillies and mares going seven furlongs over the main track. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern.

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