Plenty Saturday Stakes Action to Consider

Summer racing goes out with a bang the Saturday of Labor Day weekend, with stakes-packed programs at tracks across the nation. 

Leading the way is an all-graded stakes late pick four at Saratoga Race Course on the Saranac (G3T), Spinaway (G1), Woodward Stakes Presented By NYRA Bets (G1), and Glens Falls (G2). The Woodward and the Spinaway—the latter a "Win and You're In" race for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1)—will be shown live on NBCSN from 5:30-7 pm EDT. 

Out where the turf meets the surf, the distaffers are spotlighted in the Del Mar Debutante (G1), the Spinaway's West Coast counterpart; and the John C. Mabee (G1T) for older fillies and mares.

It's also opening day at Kentucky Downs (annually the top-ranked track in the Horseplayers Association of North America ratings), and a modern monument to the old adage "money makes the mare go," with four stakes worth a combined $1.8 million linked in a pick four with a bettor-friendly takeout of 14%.

If that's not enough, there are five hundred-granders at Parx Racing, Gulfstream Park puts on four stakes including divisions of the Florida Sire Stakes, and Monmouth Park cards four stakes as well, headed by the Red Bank (G3T) and the Violet (G3T) on the grass.

Some thoughts on the pick four sequences in New York and Kentucky:

Saranac (Sar, race 9, 5:39 ET): The nine sophomore turf runners are not separated by a great deal based on their best efforts so far, but the ones to beat look like Raging Bull (3) and Maraud (9), who were a nose apart finishing one-two in the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame Stakes (G2T) on yielding ground earlier at the meet.

Up the Ante (1) got loose and wired Raging Bull in the Manila back on July 4, but has been idle since then.

March to the Arch (2) and Golden Brown (4), respective winners of the Toronto Cup and Kent (G3T) in July, figure very close.

A - 3, 9

B - 1, 2, 4

Spinaway (Sar, race 10, 6:13 ET): All eyes will be on Chasing Yesterday (7), a half-sister to American Pharoah who won her debut stylishly for Bob Baffert, who was inducted into Saratoga's Walk of Fame last weekend, and has won with seven of 12 starters at the Spa the past three years.

Catherine the Great (4) won the Schuylerville (G3) in a romp opening day. Sippican Harbor (7) ran her way into this with a 17-length maiden win. Restless Rider (11) has been waiting for this ever since taking the Debutante by 11 lengths at the end of the Churchill Downs spring meet.

A - 7

B - 4, 6, 11

Woodward (Sar, race 11, 6:47 ET): This 14-horse edition should give handicappers fits. I was originally against Gunnevera (9), until realizing he came off a nearly identical "no-fig" prep win at Gulfstream to run a monster second in the Travers Presented By NYRA Bets (G1) last summer. 

Seeking the Soul (10) got really good through his last five starts of 2017, beginning with an allowance win at Saratoga, and concluding with a score in the Clark Handicap Presented By Norton Healthcare (G1).

For backups, we're calling on Discreet Lover (8), who was nosed for second in the Whitney (G1); Leofric (11), a versatile hard-knocker with six wins from his past eight starts; and Zanotti (13), who has never been worse than second from five starts at the Woodward's nine furlongs.

A - 9, 10

B - 8, 11, 13

Glens Falls (Sar, race 12, 7:17 ET): If you're still alive, you're not going out for drinks and dinner just yet, even though there won't be much daylight left by the time these mares traverse the 11 furlongs around three turns of the inner course.

Those spreading elsewhere will necessarily lean heavily on Santa Monica (GB) (5), who spearheads a Chad Brown-trained triumvirate along with Onthemoonagain (3) and Homeland Security (6).

If things have broken right earlier, it would be nice to also be live to Summersault (1), a two-time stakes winner at the distance; Danceland (4), who edged Onthemoonagain last time; and La Manta Gris (7), a course-and-trip winner last summer over Homeland Security.

A - 5

B - 3

C - 1, 4, 6, 7

The all-stakes, all-turf pick four at Kentucky Downs consists of two races for older horses, the $250,000 One Dreamer and the $750,000 Tourist Mile, along with two $400,000 races for 2-year-olds, the Kentucky Downs Juvenile and the Exacta Systems Juvenile Fillies.

With a sequence that goes 12x8x11x12, there are 12,672 possible combinations, and good luck coming to any solid conclusions in the baby races, where the 26 combined entrants last raced in California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.

It's too tough for me, but in the first two legs, take a look at the horses with past winning experience over the quirky, undulating course: Last Promise Kept (12) in the One Dreamer; and Master Merion (2) and Mr. Cub (4) in the Tourist Mile.