Buy Sell Hold, Snowfire Head Schuylerville Cast at Spa

Nine impressive 2-year-old fillies will battle opening day at Saratoga Race Course July 21 in the $150,000 Schuylerville Stakes (G3) going six furlongs.

All but one of the Schuylerville entrants were first-out winners, and the lone holdout, Laudation, scored in her second race. But the co-highweights at 121 pounds are two fillies that have already won a pair of races, including one stakes each.

J. Kirk and Judy Robison's Buy Sell Hold was victorious at Keeneland in April in wire-to-wire fashion at 4 1/2 furlongs as the first winner for her freshman sire, Violence  , and promptly returned in May at Churchill Downs, where she bested males via a stalk-and-pounce trip to capture the Kentucky Juvenile Stakes at five furlongs for trainer Steve Asmussen.

Buy Sell Hold will have to deal with Dream It Is, daylight winner of the five-furlong My Dear Stakes on the Woodbine Tapeta in June after winning a maiden event there in late May. The Shackleford   filly runs for Hoolie Racing Stable and trainer Barbara J. Minshall. Almost every horse in this field has shown early speed, but Buy Sell Hold and Dream It Is are likely to be frontrunners.

Best Performance could benefit from swift early fractions, as she raced mid-pack in the Astoria Stakes last out at Belmont Park, went four-wide on the turn, and finished second at 5 1/2 furlongs. The Christophe Clement trainee by Broken Vow   stalked and won her maiden outing there in May for West Point Thoroughbreds, Tango Uniform Racing, and Robert Masiello.

Snowfire, a Tapit   daughter, is the lone starter that already navigated six furlongs when she won at first asking at Churchill by four lengths after sitting off the early leaders. Owned by John Oxley, Snowfire is out of multiple graded stakes winner Upperline and was purchased for $500,000 at the 2016 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga select yearling sale.

"We're excited about her," trainer Mark Casse said. "I thought her first race was really good. We were able to breeze her here at Saratoga the other day and she went extremely well. We're expecting a big effort out of her. We're high on her, we think she's got a big future."

Stainless, by Flatter  ,  debuted at Gulfstream Park and showed an impressive brush to the lead after stalking in a five-furlong event. The horse she beat, Go Astray, came back to win. Pacific Gale gets first-time Lasix after prevailing by a head at Belmont at 5 1/2 furlongs in late June.

Limited View, out of Freedom Child  , won impressively in her debut at Laurel Park last month at five furlongs for trainer and co-owner John Salzman Jr.  Mel's Gone Wild, by Wildcat Heir, ships up from Parx Racing, looking to make it two in a row.

Schuylerville S. (G3)

Saratoga Race Course, Friday, July 21, 2017, Race 8

• 6f
• Dirt
• $150,000
• 2 yo Fillies
• 5:02 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Mel's Gone Wild (FL)	Kendrick Carmouche	119	Kathleen A. Demasi	6/1
2	2Buy Sell Hold (KY)	Florent Geroux	121	Steven M. Asmussen	3/1
3	3Best Performance (KY)	Jose L. Ortiz	119	Christophe Clement	4/1
4	4Dream It Is (KY)	Luis Contreras	121	Barbara J. Minshall	6/1
5	5Limited View (MD)	Edgar S. Prado	119	John E. Salzman, Jr.	10/1
6	6Pacific Gale (KY)	Christopher P. DeCarlo	119	John C. Kimmel	15/1
7	7Laudation (KY)	Javier Castellano	119	Steven M. Asmussen	12/1
8	8Snowfire (KY)	Julien R. Leparoux	119	Mark E. Casse	6/1
9	9Stainless (KY)	John R. Velazquez	119	Todd A. Pletcher	5/1