Saturday At 'The Spa': Saratoga Race Course Picks For Whitney Day

Whitney Day, Saturday, August 3 at the Saratoga Race Course is supposed to be one of the biggest racing days of the summer meet. Unfortunately, two of the four scheduled graded races (Saratoga Derby Invitational and Troy Stakes) have been canceled. Yet, we still have the Test Stakes and Whitney Stakes, part of the "Win and You're In" Challenge Series. The winner of the Whitney gets an auto-bid into the Breeders' Cup Classic November 2 at Del Mar Racetrack in San Diego. 

I saved face at Graveyard of Champions last Saturday by correctly picking Fierceness ($1.60) in the coveted Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes. Otherwise, I lost my other two races and dropped $2. Through the first three weeks of the Saratoga 2024 summer meet my bankroll is -$63.50. Nonetheless, this is the best Saratoga card until the Travers Stakes and there is money to make Saturday. 

Saratoga Race Course Picks Sheet: Whitney Day 

Race 8: Grade 1 Test Stakes, 3:54 p.m. ET post time

A six-horse, seven-furlong race on the dirt track for three-year-old fillies with a $500,000 purse. 

1- Emery 

• Morning Line (ML): 5-2
• Record: 5-4-0-0
• Jockey (Win-Place-Show): Tyler Gaffalione
• Trainer: Brad Cox
• Best Beyer Speed Figure (BSF): 90

Street Sense’s granddaughter should be the ML favorite. Emery is 4-0 in her four career sprint races, 3-0 as a three-year-old, and is peaking, running faster in three consecutive trips. Cox horses only have 23 starts at Saratoga this summer through August 2. But, they’ve hit the board in 14 of those races (61%). 

6- Brightwork 

• ML: 6-1
• Record: 6-4-0-0
• Jockey: John Velazquez
• Trainer: John Ortiz
• Best BSF: 89

She looked like the best filly sprinter last season but struggled when Ortiz stretched her out to one-and-one-sixteenth-mile races at the end of 2023. Brightwork won two stakes sprints at The Spa last summer: Grade 3 Adirondack by five lengths at 6.5 furlongs and Grade 1 Spinaway by a half-length over the top betting choice in this field, #4 Ways And Means. 

The biggest question Brightwork has to answer is how she will run in her first race this season. That said, there isn’t a lot of speed in the Test Stakes and Outwork’s daughter is 4-for-4 in sprint races. 

Pick(s): 

• $4 Exacta Box: 1-6 for an $8 total bet
• $10 Win-Place: #6 Brightwork for a $20 total bet

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Race 11: Grade 1 Whitney Stakes, 5:42 p.m. ET post time

An 11-horse on a one-and-one-eighth-mile dirt track for four-year-olds and older with a $1,000,000 purse. 

7- Crupi

• ML: 15-1
• Record: 16-5-3-4
• Jockey: Irad Ortiz
• Trainer: Todd Pletcher
• Best BSF: 98

Seven of the 12 horses in this field have a faster "early pace" than "late pace". Curlin’s son has the fastest late speed in this race and all the early pace forces him to be forward. Crupi has hit the board in all four of her starts at The Spa (2-0-2) and five of her eight races at this distance (3-1-1). 

He won the Grade 2 Suburban on a 1.25-mile Saratoga dirt track as the second betting choice ($2.55) Belmont Stakes Day. Crupi is cutting back to his preferred distance for the Whitney, so I’m USING HIM IN EXOTICS. 

9- Bright Future

• ML: 5-1
• Record: 9-5-0-2
• Jockey: Javier Castellano
• Trainer: Todd Pletcher
• Best BSF: 103

Another son of Curlin, Bright Future has won both races at Saratoga and his only trip at this one-and-one-eighth-mile distance. Bright Future ran his fastest (100) and third-fastest BSF’s (103) in his two wins at The Spa last year. The latter was the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup. 

His four-year-old season ended with a dud, finishing sixth in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic. But, Castellano wasn’t riding him for that race. Castellano rode Bright Future to his Grade 3 Salvator Mile at Monmouth in his first race as a five-year-old in June. 

Pick(s): 

• $10 Win bet on #9 Bright Future
• $1 Trifecta Box: 3-7-9 for a $6 total bet
• $1 Trifecta Box: 3-9-11 for $6 total bet

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