Summer may have officially started on June 21st, but for most horse racing fans, summer doesn’t truly begin until the first races of the year are run at Saratoga. Fortunately for summer-hungry racing fans, Saratoga is set to begin their meet on July 24th, and entries for the opening-day races were announced earlier today!
Highlighting the ten-race card are a pair of graded stakes races for fillies, both of which attracted very strong fields. The first is the $150,000 Schuylerville Stakes (gr. III), a six-furlong sprint for 2yos that drew a field of eight. Todd Pletcher’s impressive debut winner Positively Royal is expected to be among the favorites, while Wesley Ward will send out a pair of fillies led by Astoria Stakes winner Moment Is Right.
The second graded stakes on the card is the $200,000 Lake George Stakes (gr. II) for 3yos running 8.5 furlongs on the Mellon Turf course. Chad Brown figures to hold a strong hand with his trio of fillies, including the 2014 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (gr. I) starters Partisan Politics and Sivoliere, while Todd Pletcher will send out Edgewood Stakes (gr. III) winner Feathered and Bill Mott will start Celestine, who has won three straight stakes races.
The complete entries for the Schuylerville and Lake George are as follows:
Schuylerville Stakes (gr. III)
PP, Horse, Jockey, Trainer
1 Decked Out, Kent Desormeaux, Keith Desormeaux
2 Little Miss Miss, M. Remedio, Robert Reid Jr.
3 Areolite, Julien Leparoux, Steve Asmussen
4 Off the Tracks, Luis Saez, Roderick Rodriguez
5 One Minute, Corey Lanerie, Steve Asmussen
6 Moment Is Right, Joel Rosario, Wesley Ward
7 Positively Royal, Javier Castellano, Todd Pletcher
8 Banree, Rafael Hernandez, Wesley Ward
Lake George Stakes (gr. II)
PP, Horse, Jockey, Trainer
1 Celestine, Junior Alvarado, Bill Mott
2 My Year Is a Day, Jose Lezcano, Graham Motion
3 Jellicle Ball, John Velazquez, Graham Motion
4 Cara Marie, Paco Lopez, Kellyn Gorder
5 All in Fun, Joel Rosario, Shug McGaughey
6 Sivoliere, Jose Ortiz, Chad Brown
7 Mississippi, Julien Leparoux, Mark Casse
8 Lady Zuzu, Corey Lanerie, D. Wayne Lukas
9 Mrs McDougal, Orad Ortiz Jr., Chad Brown
10 Feathered, Luis Saez, Todd Pletcher
11 Robillard, Cornelio Velasquez, Kiaran McLaughlin
12 Partisan Politics, Javier Castellano, Chad Brown
The entries for all of the opening-day races at Saratoga can be viewed on Equibase.com.
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