Schuylerville Ushers In 40-Day Saratoga Meet

With 2-year-old racing playing such a key part in the beloved Saratoga Race Course season, it should not be much of a surprise that a juvenile stakes will be the featured race on the July 13 opening day card for the 40-day meet.

The $175,000 Schuylerville Stakes (G3) for 2-year-old fillies will kick off a schedule of 71 stakes worth $20.8 million while offering all of the uncertainty that is a hallmark of juvenile races at this time of year.

On paper, Douglas Scharbauer’s Closing Act is the standout in a field of 11. The homebred daughter of Munnings is 2-for-2 for trainer Steve Asmussen and is coming into the six-furlong stakes off a 3 1/4-length victory in the June 11 Astoria Stakes at Belmont Park.

Bred in Texas, the daughter of the Master Command mare Evening Show also won her May 11 debut at Churchill Downs, though the winning margin was only a neck.

Being the lone stakes winner in any field is usually a big class edge. Yet in a race like the Schuylerville with the vast majority of the starters coming off debut wins, the difference between maiden and graded stakes company at this time of year is not as pronounced as it will be in 2024 when the juveniles of today become the 3-year-olds of tomorrow.

With the starters coming from a last race at six different tracks and one making her first start it becomes even more of a challenge to put a measuring stick to the starters, especially one such as D. J. Stable and Gary Barber’s Sugar Treat .

The Enticed filly was a debut winner but that effort came on the Tapeta surface at Gulfstream Park and she will be making her initial start on dirt. Yet for trainer Mark Casse, the grit she showed in overcoming traffic problems in the five-furlong race and her sharp works on dirt gave the Hall of Famer more than enough confidence to test her in the Schuylerville.

“We planned to start on dirt. She trained real well on dirt,” Casse said. “But the Tapeta race came up and we had bought her at Ocala where there’s synthetics so I figured she’d be just fine on Tapeta. She drew the one hole and had a really tough trip. I don’t know how she was able to win. She showed a lot of grit. I don’t know how good the horses she beat are, but if you watch the race you would have to be impressed with it.”

Then 86-six-year-old trainer D. Wayne Lukas was a star of the 2022 meet with seven wins and the six-time Schuylerville winner will be hoping for a quick start in 2023 with the aptly named Saratoga Secret . By Arrogate, she was a three-length winner of her June 23 debut at Ellis Park for BC Stables.

Trainer Todd Pletcher will also chase a record-setting seventh Schuylerville win with MKW Racing’s Wine On Tap , a Tapit filly who scored by three lengths at 6-5 odds in her June 18 debut at Belmont.

The field also includes Union Suit (Union Rags ), who was second in the Astoria; Delaware Park maiden winner Dancing Diana (Bolt d’Oro ); Kiss for Luck (Accelerate ) and Carmelina (Maximus Mischief ), two first-out winners from Parx Racing trained by Butch Reid; Monmouth Park winner Mila Junes (Tapiture ); Belmont debut winner Status Seeker (Upstart ); and the debuting Becky’s Joker (Practical Joke ).