The 2024 Saratoga meet is at the midway point with one of the biggest days of the summer in the rearview mirror, where it was Arthur’s Ride dominating a field of nine rivals in the Grade 1 Whitney under an aggressive ride from Junior Alvarado. Despite the presence of National Treasure to his inside, Alvarado took no prisoners in his savvy decision to come away running from his outside draw and it likely made the difference for this son of Tapit who has now rattled off 4 of 5 after kicking off his career with a pair of runner-up finishes at the Spa last summer.

The big day in upstate New York also saw an impressive performance from Klaravich Stable’s Ways and Means earning her first Grade 1 victory in the Test under jockey Flavien Prat. The Practical Joke filly has a ton of talent and appears poised to take on older fillies and mares in this year’s Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint assuming she stays healthy under the care of trainer Chad Brown. Emery ran a solid second in her first try against Grade 1 competition as part of an uncoupled entry for trainer Brad Cox. We will see if she has the ceiling to turn the tables on Ways and Means in the future, but for now she certainly is a cut below the 2024 Test winner.

While it was great seeing star performances in the two Grade 1’s over the muddy main track, unfortunately most horseplayers will remember 2024 Whitney Day for the fact that a pair of turf stakes races were postponed and pushed back to this coming Saturday. Obviously, safety comes first, but the late-morning decision led to what, in my memory, was an unprecedented cancellation of several horizontal pools on such a massive day of racing. As usual, we horseplayers tried to make the most of the day, but it certainly led to a much-smaller budget in New York for yours truly.

In terms of Arthur’s Ride’s effort, it was obviously impressive in a vacuum but it was probably more indicative of the lack of quality in the older handicap division, than a coming out party for a future star. While it was nice to see a full field in the gates, it was far from a group loaded with true Grade 1 runners. The favorite failed to fire, the runner-up Crupi is a nice colt continuing to improve, but he took eight starts to break his maiden and his lone graded stakes victory came in a subpar edition of the Grade 2 Suburban in June, and the third-place finisher Post Time had never traveled two-turns prior to last Saturday. Hopefully Arthur’s Ride continues to move forward and we get to see Birdstone Stakes winner Next take on serious competition in his next start after proving once again he is far superior to the “marathon” runners he has been taking on of late. With what looks like a mediocre 3YO crop at this point, the Breeders’ Cup Classic could use a couple of the older runners taking their games to the next level over the next few months.

Not to take too much away from the Whitney and Test winners, but the horse that impressed me most this past weekend was without a doubt, Adare Manor. I have questioned this daughter of Uncle Mo’s quality over the last couple of years because the majority of her best efforts have come at short prices against compact fields, but my opinion changed on Saturday evening. The Bob Baffert conditioned filly was shuffled back a bit along the inside on the backstretch in the Grade 1 Clement L. Hirsch and came under urging on the far turn chasing eventual runner-up Scylla. I bet the eventual runner-up and was counting my money at the top of the stretch, but that joy was short lived to say the least. Adare Manor leveled off and ended up winning quite easily in the end. She has now won the Clement L. Hirsch in back-to-back years, is 10 for 18 overall, and has to be considered the horse to beat in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff run over this surface in the fall.

This coming weekend the biggest races in the States are run over the turf, but mother nature appears ready to wreak havoc on Arlington Million Day at Colonial Downs and Fourstardave at Saratoga. Don’t snooze on Ellis Park’s Sunday card where the racing office at the Pea Patch has offered horseplayers an outstanding slate from start-to-finish despite an underwhelming edition of the Ellis Park Derby. Thistledown and Canterbury might not normally be on your radar but both midwestern venues have solid cards as well with some state-bred stakes action leading the way.