First look at Whiney Day stakes
For the past 15 years or so, the Travers Day card has resembled a sort of mini-Breeders’ Cup, with five or six G1s and a G2 or two going off one right after the other. As many as half of the G1s scheduled for the entire meet have been crammed into a single afternoon.
There’s no question that these “Super Saturdays” – which are common throughout racing – are popular with bettors and fans, and that they generate an extra level of excitement. The downside is that with so many big races run so close together, there’s scarcely time to process one race before the horses come onto the track for the next one. In addition, the meet ends up being out of balance, with a number of Saturday cards considerably weaker than others.
This summer, due in large part to the impact of the pandemic and the resulting shift of the Kentucky Derby from the first Saturday in May to Labor Day weekend, Saratoga’s major races are more evenly distributed. The Travers Day program on Aug. 8, for example, includes three G1s, not six. This Saturday’s Whitney card has three G1s instead of two – adding the Personal Ensign and H. Allen Jerkens Stakes, with the Test moving to Travers Day – plus the G2 Bowling Green.
As nine-furlong races for older males and females, the Whitney and Personal Ensign make a natural pairing. Entries had not been drawn as of this writing, but the expected starters include Tom’s d’Etat and Midnight Bisou, who are widely considered the best horses in their respective divisions – and possibly the two best horses in training.
Short fields have been the rule in graded races this summer (an average of 6.1 starters through Sunday), and the Whitney and Personal Ensign will likely continue the trend. One explanation is that because of this summer’s altered schedules, horses that normally might have targeted
Saratoga races end up running elsewhere. Examples of top horses who might have targeted the Personal Ensign, for example, include recent major graded winners Dunbar Road (Delaware Handicap), Monomoy Girl (Ruffian) and Guarana (Madison), as well as She’s a Julie and Serengeti Empress.
A second explanation for the expected small field for the Personal Ensign may be that few horsemen feel like tangling with Midnight Bisou right now.
Two-year-old Lasix scorecard Beginning this year, horses competing in 2-yearold races at the three NYRA tracks cannot be treated with Lasix within 48 hours prior to racing. Other tracks and racing organizations that were part of the coalition agreeing to the measure two years ago included Churchill Downs Inc, The Stronach Group, Del Mar, Keeneland, Oaklawn Park, Tampa Bay Downs and others. Together, participating tracks accounted for 86 percent of the graded and listed stakes in 2018.
As of last Sunday, there had been nineteen 2-yearold races at NYRA tracks, ten at Belmont and nine at Saratoga. A total of 134 horses started in these races – an average of 7.1 per race – and all 134 finished. Equibase charts did not mention any obvious bleeding incidents.
Next year, the 48-hour Lasix ban will be expanded to include horses, regardless of age, competing in all stakes races at Saratoga, Belmont and Aqueduct.