NEWS
Schuylerville card kicks off 2007 Saratoga meeting
Posted: Tuesday, July 24, 2007 7:04 PM
SARATOGA RACE COURSE
Mark Wyville photo
The 2007 live meeting at Saratoga Race Course begins on Wednesday with a ten-race card featuring the $100,000 Schuylerville Stakes (G3), a six-furlong race for two-year-old fillies.
The 36-day meet, highlighted by the $1-million Travers Stakes (G1) for three-year-olds on August 25, runs through September 3.
The first weekend of the meet figures to generate plenty of interest with four “Win and You’re In” Breeders’ Cup Challenge races scheduled for Saturday, July 28. Saratoga is the first of six tracks where the winners of four stakes races automatically qualify for the October 26-27 Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Monmouth Park.
The schedule of races for the Breeders’ Cup Challenge on July 28 at Saratoga Race Course has been changed to accommodate ABC’s two-hour live coverage.
The revised schedule for those stakes races will begin at 4:12 p.m. EDT with the $250,000 Go for Wand Handicap (G1), a qualifying race for the Emirates Airline Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1), followed at 4:43 p.m. with the $250,000 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap (G2), a qualifier for TVG Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1).
The $500,000 Diana Handicap (G1), which will feature an automatic bid to the Emirates Airline Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1), is scheduled for 5:15 p.m. The final race of the live telecast will be the $750,000 Whitney Handicap (G1), a qualifying race for the Breeders’ Cup Classic Powered by Dodge (G1), at 5:46 p.m.
Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands winner Street Sense arrived at Saratoga on Sunday. The Street Cry (Ire) colt could make his first start since finishing second to Curlin in the Preakness Stakes (G1) on May 19 in the $500,000 Jim Dandy Stakes (G2) on July 29.
“He shipped in fine with no problems,” said Ian Wilkes, assistant to trainer Carl Nafzger. “He got in Sunday morning and he’s comfortable. The Preakness was a long time ago. We’re looking forward to running him again.”
Curlin also is nominated to the Jim Dandy, but trainer Steve Asmussen said the Haskell Invitational Handicap (G1) on August 5 at Monmouth Park is a more likely start for the Smart Strike colt. A rematch of the familiar classic-winning foes remains a possibility in the Travers.
