Highlighting this weekend's racing action are Grade 1 races from coast to coast. On Saturday, a big rematch is in the cards for Saratoga's Alabama, while a Breeders' Cup Classic berth is on the line in Del Mar's million-dollar Pacific Classic. On Sunday, Woodbine will put on a trio of graded stakes races as well as the $1 million Queen's Plate, first leg of the Canadian Triple Crown.
Maracuja posted a big upset over Kentucky Oaks winner Malathaat in the CCA Oaks last month, and the two sophomore fillies face off again in Saturday's Grade 1 Alabama. It's far from a two-horse race, however, with graded stakes winners Clairiere, Army Wife, and Crazy Beautiful also part of the seven-horse field.
The Pacific Classic features East Coast shipper Dr Post for trainer Todd Pletcher, while the local favorite Express Train will look to add the elusive Grade 1 score to his growing resume. Royal Ship, Tizamagician, and Independence Hall are also in the nine-horse lineup.
Sunday's Queen's Plate drew a field of 13 sophomores for the 1 1/4-mile classic, with 19-year-old Joshua Attard's Keep Grinding, trained by his grandfather, the 4-1 morning line favorite.
The New York Racing Association has planned an all graded stakes cross country pick 5 for Saturday, encompassing three Grade 1 contests and two Grade 2 events from Saratoga and Del Mar. Past performances are free here for this 50-cent base wager.
Here's a quick snapshot of this weekend's graded stakes schedule, starting with Saratoga's big races (all times Eastern):
Saturday
5:39 p.m. – $200,000 Grade 2 Lake Placid Stakes at Saratoga
In the Lake Placid, Technical Analysis will look to duplicate her effort from the G3 Lake George on July 23 over the Saratoga inner turf, where she tracked in third position before kicking away from Fluffy Socks to win by 1 1/4 lengths in a one-mile contest. The Chad Brown trainee has compiled a 3-0-1 record in five starts but did not face stakes competition until her sixth-place effort in the 1 1/8-mile G3 Wonder Again on June 3 at Belmont Park. After winning at a mile, the Irish-bred daughter of Kingman will be stretched back out, drawing post 2 with Jose Ortiz aboard for the fifth straight start.
Spanish Loveaffair faced top-flight competition last out, running last-of-eight in the G1 Belmont Oaks Invitational in the opening leg of NYRA's Turf Triple series on July 10. Entering off a two-month respite, the daughter of Karakontie has alternated between solid stakes efforts and disappointing finishes in her four 2021 starts.
Runaway Rumour won her first three starts for trainer Jorge Abreu, including an off-the-pace half-length victory in the Wild Applause in June at Belmont Park going one mile. After running fourth in the Lake George in her first run over the Saratoga grass, the Flintshire filly will return to the Spa, where she has worked since June, including a four-furlong work on the Oklahoma training track on Aug. 7 in 50.83 seconds.
6:13 p.m. – $600,000 Grade 1 Alabama Stakes at Saratoga
Malathaat saw Maracuja snap her five-race undefeated record in the Coaching Club American Oaks on July 24, where the blue-blooded daughter of Curlin went into the gate as the 1-5 favorite and set a pressured pace down the backstretch before engaging in a dramatic stretch rally, coming up a head shy of victory. Malathaat will attempt to regain her status as division leader when she again faces Maracuja in the 1 1/4-mile Alabama.
Steve Asmussen will saddle Clairiere in search of her first Grade 1 triumph. Fourth beaten three lengths in the Kentucky Oaks, Clairiere seeks her first victory since the G2 Rachel Alexandra on Feb. 13 at Fair Grounds Race Course.
Following a victory in the G2 Gulfstream Park Oaks on March 27, Crazy Beautiful was never a factor in the Kentucky Oaks finishing a distant tenth. But her brilliance was recaptured in her following two efforts, winning the G3 Summertime Oaks on May 30 at Santa Anita ahead of a six-length romp in the G3 Delaware Oaks on July 3 at Delaware Park.
Army Wife boasts four lifetime wins all over different tracks and will seek to add Saratoga to her list of oval conquests for leading trainer Mike Maker. The bay daughter of Declaration of War was a fourth out maiden winner going seven furlongs in October at Churchill Downs before defeating winners at Gulfstream Park two starts later. After a distant third in the Gazelle, she picked up scores in the G2 Black Eyed Susan on May 14 at Pimlico and the G3 Iowa Oaks on July 2 at Prairie Meadows.
8:00 p.m. – $300,000 Grade 2 Del Mar Mile at Del Mar
Six will go hard and heavy at the classic flat mile in the Del Mar Mile and each and every one of them is a major stakes winner. Their purse earnings got past the $5.4-million mark and they're all seasoned racehorses eligible to fire a big shot Saturday.
Mo Forza is the 8-5 favorite having won his last two in a row, though both of those races came at the end of 2020 and he hasn't raced since. Of course, Peter Miller is known to have his horses ready off the layoff. The son of Uncle Mo won this race last year.
Smooth Like Strait will start at 9-5 on the morning line; he won the G1 Shoemaker Mile at Santa Anita back in May, and ran second by a neck when stretched out to nine furlongs in the G2 Eddie Read. Shortening up to a mile could put the Michael McCarthy trainee back on top.
Hit the Road won four races in a row through March of this year, and has gotten a break from the races after finishing fifth in the G1 Maker's Mark Mile at Keeneland in April. Dan Blacker has been working him at Del Mar since mid-July, and he appears ready for a comeback.
9:00 p.m. – $300,000 Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks at Del Mar
The Oaks has lured a field of nine including a pair of shippers: Head of Plains Partners' Fluffy Socks in from New York and Yuesheng Zhang's Soaring Sky aboard from her native Ireland.
The key prep race for the Del Mar Oaks was the G2 San Clemente Stakes, run at Del Mar at a mile on the turf on July 24. The one, two, three finishers from the race — Madone, Going Global and Tetragonal – are all back to try their luck in the more demanding and more lucrative Oaks.
9:30 p.m. – $1 million Grade 1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar
The Pacific Classic is a Breeders' Cup “Win and You're In” event providing its winner an all expenses paid entrance into the $6 million Breeders' Cup Classic, which will be run this year at Del Mar on Saturday, Nov. 6.
Express Train earned his role as the Pacific Classic favorite by compiling and ultra-steady mark of 12-4-4-2 with earnings of $659,300. He also was the horse home first in Del Mar's key prep for the Classic, the G2 San Diego Handicap on July 17. He finished a half length to the good that afternoon going a mile and one-sixteenth and beat four of the runners he'll be facing Saturday. John Shirreffs trains Express Train and he's once again named regular rider Juan Hernandez aboard the 4-year-old Union Rags colt.
Royal Ship is a Brazilian-bred gelding by Midshipman (winner of the Del Mar Futurity in 2008 and 2-year-old champion that year) who has steadily gotten better since coming north from his native land last year. He's won six of 14 starts and earned $293,305 in his career so far and was third, beaten a length and a quarter, in the San Diego. Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella has once again named Hall of Fame rider Mike Smith to guide Royal Ship on Saturday.
Dr Post is in from the East Coast where he's proven to be a solid stakes competitor with four victories in nine starts for earnings of $700,635. His most recent outing was a tally in the G3 Monmouth Cup at Monmouth Park in New Jersey on July 17. Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher has commissioned Joel Rosario to ride the Quality Road colt in the Classic. Rosario, a three-time Del Mar riding champ prior to shifting his tack to the east, has twice come west to capture the Classic – with Dullahan in 2014 and Accelerate in 2018.
10:00 p.m. – $300,000 Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap at Del Mar
The Del Mar Handicap will bring out 10 competitors and sets up for a clash of titans between two of the best grass route horses in the country in LNJ Foxwoods' United and Donegal Racing, Bulger and Coneway's Arklow. The Del Mar Handicap is a Breeders' Cup “Win and You're In” Challenge race that guarantees the winner all expenses paid admission into the $4 million Breeders' Cup Turf, which will be run at Del Mar on Saturday, Nov. 6.
The likely battle royale between United and Arklow will be a fitting nightcap to Pacific Classic day. The pair of turf behemoths bring plenty of bragging rights to the race: United, a 6-year-old gelding by Giant's Causeway, has won nine races and $1,675,549. He was second, beaten a head, in this race last year. Arklow also has won nine races, but his bankroll goes past his chief rival at $2,755,746. The long-winded stretch kicker shipped to Del Mar last fall and made short work of the Hollywood Turf Cup at a mile and a half. Both runners will have their regular riders – Flavien Prat on United and Florent Geroux on Arklow.
Here's a look at the remainder of the weekend's graded stakes, courtesy of NTRA:
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