8/8/18
Mother Nature strengthens weekend Spa cards
By Bob Ehalt
Sometimes Mother Nature taketh away. Sometimes she giveth.
After a storm worthy of Noah wiped out two turf stakes on Saturday’s card at Saratoga, those races will return this weekend to pump up an intriguing weekend at the Spa.
Looking ahead, on Thursday there’s a $100,000 New York Stallion Series Statue of Liberty Division stakes for 3-year-old fillies at a mile on the turf.
Goodbye Brockley is the 5-2 favorite in a field of 12 (including two Main Track Only entrants who will be hoping for more rain), with Kreesie (3-1) and Byself (7-2) the main threats.
On Friday, the featured stakes is the $100,000 Tale of the Cat, a sprint stakes at six furlongs. Only five turned out with My Boy Tate looking best in a field that also includes Mr. Crow, Silver Ride, Pop the Hood and Always Sunshine.
Saturday’s card picks up the first dividend of Saturday’s storm.
The Lure, a $100,000 grass stakes, has been moved to Saturday and gives the card a trio of stakes.
The featured race is the $500,000 Fourstardave, a Grade 1 turf stakes named after the beloved gelding who won at least one race at Saratoga in each year from 1987 to 1994. The expected favorite should be Heart to Heart, a 7-year-old who has already won two Grade 1 stakes this year, the Makers 46 Mile at Keeneland and the Gulfstream Park Turf Stakes. In his most recent start, Heart to Heart was second by a neck in the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile at Santa Anita.
Also on that card is the Grade 2 $200,000 Adirondack Stakes for 2-yer-old fillies.
Sunday’s card will get a boost from the addition of the $200,000 Waya, the other turf stakes that was postponed last weekend. The Grade 3 stakes is for fillies and mares on the turf at a mile-and-a-half.
The Waya is a late addition to a card that already offers the $200,000 Saratoga Special, a Grade 2 stakes for 2-year-olds.
So, as much as inclement weather spoiled last week’s racing, this weekend should make amends – weather permitting, of course.