Week six of the 2021 racing season at Saratoga Race Course beginning August 18 features the distaff set as fillies and mares dominate the stakes action.
Of the 8 stakes races, 6 of them are for female runners including both the Grade I Alabama and the Grade II Lake Placid. The Alabama has acted as the prelude to The Travers for most of its runnings and has become increasingly popular with fans in recent years. With High Schools and Colleges starting classes at increasingly earlier dates many families see the Alabama as the last weekend available to dedicate to racing and its appeal is approaching that of The Travers the traditional highlight of the meet run a week later.
The headliner on Saturday is The Alabama named in honor of William Cottrell who bred or owned several early Kentucky Derby winners. Legend has it that when it was suggested in 1872 that the new Saratoga race be named in his honor, he demurred requesting that it be named instead for his home state – Alabama - which was struggling during the post-war reconstruction. (There once was a time when plastering your name all over everything was considered uncouth.)
The Alabama’s defining characteristic is its distance – an exhausting mile and one-quarter. To fully understand the Alabama you must appreciate the difficulty three year old fillies have going a mile and one-quarter on the dirt. The extra furlong of the Alabama is beyond the scope of many of the speedy fillies that have heretofore succeeded and only champions manage to handle the added distance. This is likely the only time in their careers most will be asked to navigate the distance and as such It makes for memorable performances.
This Alabama figures to be a rematch between Malathaat (which means “senses” in Arabic), and Maracuja (which means “passion fruit” in Portuguese). The previously undefeated Kentucky Oaks winner Malathaat was narrowly beaten earlier in the meet in the Coaching Club American Oaks by Maracuja. Most observers, however, thought that Malathaat was the better performer that day despite her narrow defeat and she is likely to be favored again. A win in the Alabama would solidify Malathaat’s position as the leader of the three-year-old filly division. Both fillies are suitably bred for the longer distance of the Alabama and while the $600,000 purse is meaningful, the real value lies in the prestige gained as a broodmare who won the Alabama.
Saturday’s undercard features two grass stakes for females – the $200,000 Grade II Like Placid for three-year-olds at a mile and one-sixteenth and the $120,000 Smart N Fancy for older runners at the sprint distance of five and one-half furlongs.
The other race of note this week will be run on Thursday when a Grade I steeplechase race will be conducted with a new name. Formerly The New York Turf Writers’ Cup, since its inception in 1938, this race has been renamed to honor recently retired trainer Jonathan Sheppard. Sheppard’s accomplishments are voluminous as you would expect from his induction into the National Museum and Racing Hall of Fame in 1990 at a young age. He is one of only two trainers (along with Sidney Watters) to train champions in both the steeplechase and flat divisions. In addition, he holds every possible record as a steeplechase trainer.
While his body of work during his 56-year career is awe inspiring his accomplishments at Saratoga are downright legendary. In addition to being the meet’s leading trainer in consecutive seasons in 1984 and 1985, he won this race a staggering fifteen times. But his record that seems destined to last forever is having won at least one race at Saratoga for 47 consecutive years (1969-2015)! Yes – 47 years!
The Jonathan Sheppard has a purse of $150,000 and is contested at the elongated distance of two miles and three-eighths. Sheppard’s former assistant, trainer Keri Brion has four runners nominated for the race including Baltimore Bucko, the winner of the A. P. Smithwick earlier in the meet. With the cancellation of the next steeplechase race already announced Ms. Brion will run all four nominees including The Mean Queen who was on the way to victory last week before unseating the rider with less than a furlong to go.
Ms. Brion told me “All four are doing really well.” As far as winning the race named after her mentor she continued “Obviously it would mean a lot to me to win this race. He’s taught me all that I know when it comes to steeplechase horses so it would be special to win it with one of his former owners.”
The flat stakes race of the day on Thursday is the Union Avenue Handicap for New York bred fillies and mares at six and one-half furlongs on the dirt.
Wednesday’s highlight is the Bolton Landing - a race for two-year-old fillies on the grass at five and one-half furlongs for a purse of $120,000.
Friday offers the Skidmore – male counterpart to the Bolton Landing at five and one-half furlongs on the grass for two-year-olds with a purse of $120,000.
Sunday completes the week with the Summer Colony a restricted stake for older fillies and mares on the dirt at a mile and one eighth with a purse of $120,000.
