The “official’’ opening day at Saratoga Race Course is Thursday, with so much interest in the feature race of the day, the listed De La Rose, that the 1-mile turf test was split into two divisions.
Traditionally, the opening day feature for the summer meet has been the Schuylerville Stakes for 2-year-old fillies. That, however, was contested last week during the first Fourth of July racing festival at the Spa (July 3-7). And in June, the Spa hosted the Belmont Stakes racing festival.
So, let’s rub our hands together, study the past performances, and get ready to handicap 10 races on the first of 40 days of racing.
Trainers Bill Mott, Miguel Clement, and Saffie Joseph, Jr. have a horse in each division of the De La Rose for 4-and-up fillies and mares.
In the first division, it’s 6-1 Alluring Angel for Mott, 9-2 Les Reys for Clement, and 4-1 In Our Time for Joseph.
In the second division, it’s 12-1 Poca Mucha for Mott, 7-2 Ozara for Clement, and 6-5 favorite Movin’ On Up for Joseph.
The first division is race 5 (post time 3:27 p.m. ET), the second division is race 8 (post time 5:10 p.m.). Each division has eight entrants and carries a $135,000 purse.
In Our Time returns from a freshening after sixth-place finish in the Sand Springs at Gulfstream Park on March 29 – stablemate Movin’ On Up was the winner.
“She is coming off the layoff. Last time was a bit of a disappointing run, it was probably one race too many after a good series,” Joseph, Jr. “She seems to have come along well, and we are giving this a try.”
The 4-year-old filly will be ridden for the first time by Luis Saez from post 8 and likely will be among the early leaders. The big question is whether she can come through with a strong stretch run. Prior to the Sand Springs, In Our Time was a top 3 finishers in four straight races, including a second in the Pegasus World Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G2) in January.
Clement, who now operates the stable following the death last month of his father Christophe, has Les Reys ready for her first start after an eight-month layoff following a fifth-place finish in the Valley View Stakes (G2) at Keeneland. The 4-year-old won 3-of-7 starts while racing in France, and was 1-for-2 under Christophe Clement, winning at Aqueduct under Joel Rosario, who has the call on Thursday.
“She has an explosive turn-of-foot and at the moment, I think she’s sitting on a good one,’’ Clement said.
Alluring Angel makes her first start for Mott. The 5-year-old mare was previously trained by Jorge Abreu, Mike Maker, and Chad Brown.
Movin’ On Up, a stalking third in the Mint Julep Stakes (G3) at Churchill Downs on June 1. The 4-year-filly has posted a top 3 finish in her last four races, including her win in the Sand Springs at 1 mile.
“She is tactical. She likes and she runs best when she's kind of covered up,” Joseph, Jr. said. “She's in good form. She had some troubled trips the last couple, too. Hopefully this time she gets a cleaner trip.”
Ozara was third in the Eatontown Stakes (G3) at Monmouth Park on June 14, being outkicked to the wire by Whiskey Decision.
New York bred Spinning Colors won the Mount Vernon Stakes at the Spa on June 4 for trainer Mark Hennig. Look for the daughter of Hard Spun to be among the leaders. The 5-year-old mare is 14-5-2-1.
The horse to watch here is 6-1 Fun With Flags, trained by Chad Brown with Flavien Prat aboard.
The writing team at US Racing is comprised of both full-time and part-time contributors with expertise in various aspects of the Sport of Kings.
