Saratoga Derby and Saratoga Oaks debut this weekend

With the foursome of McKinzie, Preservationist, Thunder Snow and Vino Rosso among the expected starters, this year’s $1 million Whitney Stakes (G1) features a talented and pretty wellmatched group of older horses.

This weekend also features the inaugural runnings of the $1 million Saratoga Derby on Sunday and $750k Saratoga Oaks on Friday, the second legs, respectively, of the newly created Turf Trinity and Turf Tiara. They follow the Belmont Derby and Belmont Oaks, which were run on Fourth of July weekend, and precede the Jockey Club Derby and Jockey Club Oaks scheduled for September 7. The six races are contested at between 9½ and 12 furlongs.

The Turf Trinity and Turf Ti

ara, with their $5.25 million in total purse money, will help beef up 3-year-old turf divisions that have been sorely in need of more, and better funded, opportunities. The hope is that these races will aid in the development of young turf talent in this country – from both a racing and a breeding standpoint – as well as attracting horses from overseas.

Not only have sophomore turf divisions been in need of more and better funded stakes, they’ve also needed more races scheduled over a distance of ground. This year, not counting the Turf Trinity and Turf Tiara, there are 14 Grade 1 and Grade 2 turf races restricted to 3-year-olds, half of them for females. None of the 14 is run at more than nine furlongs.

The Breeders’ Cup Turf is run at 12 furlongs and the Filly & Mare Turf usually at 10 or 11. Other major fall races open to 3-year-olds-and-up such as the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic and Flower Bowl are also contested at 10-12 furlongs. The six Turf Trinity and Turf Tiara races scheduled during the summer will give 3-year-olds more distance-appropriate opportunities to prepare for taking on their elders.

The numbers from the Belmont Derby and Belmont Oaks have been encouraging. The two races were first run in 2014, and because they replaced existing G1 events – the Jamaica Handicap and Garden City Stakes, respectively. They benefitted from having a G1 rating from the beginning. In their first five years, the Belmont Derby and Belmont Oaks have averaged 11 starters, with roughly a quarter of them based outside the U.S. Arch Progeny Carry On

Arch sired some topclass horses during his stallion career, chief among them 2010 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner and champion older male Blame, Arravale, the 2006 Canadian Horse of the Year, and multiple G1 winners Pine Island and Les Arcs.

It’s questionable, though, whether the deceased stallion (Arch died of a heart attack in 2016) has had many better weeks than the current one. Last Saturday, his 3-year-old son Tax posted a gritty win in the Jim Dandy, positioning himself as one of the likely favorites for the Travers. One race earlier, Arch’s millionaire son Arklow was beaten less than a length in the Bowling Green Handicap. Finally, his 6-year-old son Preservationist, a smashing winner of the Suburban four weeks ago, is among the top choices for tomorrow’s Whitney.

Blame is the best hope for carrying on the male line of the once thriving (but now endangered) Roberto branch of Hail to Reason.