Closing week in Saratoga Springs treks on later today with the penultimate card of the summer. The 12-race slate is headlined by a trio of stakes, including the seven-furlong Hopeful (G1) for some of the top 2YO dirt horses in the country. The feature goes as Race 10 making it a key race in all of the late horizontal pools. Here are my thoughts on two of the stakes served up by the New York Racing Association later today and a 2YO MSW event that concludes the early Pick 5.


Race 5:
A wide-open state-bred MSW for juveniles at 5.5-furlongs is made up of mostly first-time starters. The only runner with experience got very little out of his debut because he completely botched the break costing him several lengths at the start. I will hope Linda Rice makes the trainer title standings that much closer after this one when firster #6 Randee makes his first lifetime start. The $250k OBS April ’26 purchase for Lsu Stables is by Cyberknife out of the dam Take Charge Paula making him a younger half-brother to first-out winner Long Neck Paula. He comes in off a long series of local drills and has as good a chance as anyone to get to the wire first.

Play: #6 Randee (4-1 ML)
Picks: 6-3-5


Race 10: Hopeful (G1)
The featured event for juveniles at seven-eighths of a mile is relatively wide-open this year with perhaps the best 2YO on the grounds winning the opener on yesterday’s card. So while there is no U.S.S. Valor in the Hopeful, there are eight probables listed to break from the gate around 5:19 PM this afternoon led by 3-1-ML favorite #3 Booked. The Yaupon colt has done little wrong thus far winning 2 of 4 to start his career, including the Sanford (G3) two months ago for Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen. Asmussen had a big Saturday that included an easy win in the Spinaway (G1) by Summer Starlet. Booked comes in off a well-beaten second in the Saratoga Special (G2) is one I am willing to fade at the price later today since I am not sure how much room for improvement he has at this point in the summer. I will try to beat Booked with #1 The Good Life. The son of Life Is Good debuted in mid-July over this surface for trainer Brad Cox. In that first star, the WinStar homebred showed big speed after the break making the lead and besting a field that included the debut of the highly regarded/well-meant son of Flightline, Powerline. Cox has given the colt time since to recover and prepare for his first start against winners. With a clean break from the rail, he could prove tough to catch once again under jockey Manny Franco.

Play: #1 The Good Life (7-2 ML)
Picks: 1-7-3


Race 11: Disco Partner
This 5.5-furlong dash named after the NY-bred Patricia Generazio homebred that won 11 of 33 career races is led by 5-2-ML favorite #7 Creditworthy. The Klaravich Stables gelding aims to make it two wins in a row off the layoff for Chad Brown after taking advantage of a favorable flow in his return allowance victory on August 2. He is 4 for 7 in his career and 3 for 3 over this course, but I am concerned that he will not get anywhere near the same setup this afternoon. Last time out, early speeds battling paved the way for off-the-pace runners to make up all three slots in the trifecta, but I will bank on a different race shape in this $150k stakes for horses which have not won a graded stakes event in 2025-2026.

I will try to wire the field instead with Pennsylvania-bred #1 Jean Valjean. The Uncle Lino gelding enters after a confidence booster against state-bred foes at Penn National, but prior to that was a non-factor in the same race Creditworthy exits in early August. In that race, jockey Jomar Torres never had a shot to make the lead given the speed signed on and the way race played out, but that should be different in the Disco Partner. Torres is likely to be far more aggressive given the field he encounters and inside draw. Hopefully, the Elizabeth Merryman trainee is ready to run them off their feet in his second local try.

Play: #1 Jean Valjean (9-2 ML)
Picks: 1-4-7