The Troy Stakes is a Grade II Thoroughbred race held annually at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York. Contested at 5½ furlongs on the turf for horses aged three and older, it is one of the premier turf sprint tests of the Saratoga summer meet and a key benchmark for older turf sprinters targeting the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint in the fall. The race traces its roots to 1901 as the Troy Claiming Stakes at Saratoga, a historic two-year-old sprint event, and was revived in its modern form in 2004. Named for the historic city of Troy, New York, located approximately 30 miles south of Saratoga Springs along the Hudson River, the race was classified Grade III in 2018 and upgraded to Grade II in 2024 by the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association. The race is occasionally moved to the dirt when turf conditions are unsuitable — as happened in both 2014 and 2024 — and the 2024 running was one of the most unusual in recent Saratoga history. The speed record of 1:00.23 was set by Leinster in 2019. Bring Theband Home posted the second-fastest Troy in 2025 at 1:00.38. Todd Pletcher holds the trainer record with three wins, while John Velazquez holds the jockey record with four wins between 2004 and 2012.
The 2026 Troy Stakes is scheduled for Sunday, August 9 at Saratoga Race Course. Contested at 5½ furlongs on the turf with a purse of $300,000, the race draws the top older turf sprinters in the Northeast targeting the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint in the fall.
Bring Theband Home delivered the most dominant performance in the race's modern history in 2025 for trainer Mark Casse and jockey Javier Castellano, posting a front-running 1:00.38 gate-to-wire score for Live Oak Plantation — the second-fastest Troy in race history. The Into Mischief gelding had previously won the Harvey Pack at the Spa just weeks earlier, making him 3-for-3 at Saratoga. Surveillance gave jockey Tyler Gaffalione a 2024 victory in the off-turf edition run on the dirt, the seven-year-old Constitution gelding rallying three-wide in the stretch for connections who had just claimed him at the Spa weeks prior. Cogburn gave trainer Steve Asmussen and jockey Ricardo Santana Jr. the 2023 Troy, the Not This Time gelding surviving a rough trip to get to the front in deep stretch and win by three-quarters of a length in his graded stakes debut — launching a campaign that would culminate in a record-breaking Jaipur Stakes performance in 2024. Fast Boat gave trainer Joe Sharp and jockey Tyler Gaffalione a 2021 score in 1:01.24, flying late to catch longshot Carotari in the City Zip gelding's third stakes victory of the summer.
| Year | Winner | Jockey | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Bring Theband Home | Javier Castellano | 1:00.38 |
| 2024 | Surveillance | Tyler Gaffalione | 1:04.41* |
| 2023 | Cogburn | Ricardo Santana Jr. | 1:03.70 |
| 2022 | Golden Pal | Irad Ortiz Jr. | 1:00.92 |
| 2021 | Fast Boat | Tyler Gaffalione | 1:01.24 |
* Run on dirt due to turf course conditions.
The Troy Stakes is one of the most prestigious turf sprint events at Saratoga and a key summer proving ground for older turf sprinters each August.
