Saratoga Racetrack Summer Stakes Schedule 2026

Saratoga Racecourse Expert Picks and Saratoga Handicapping Tools

Coupled with enormous daily handle and large fields, Saratoga often offers value for a horseplayers' picks with the right opinion. Here are some tools to assist arriving at solid betting picks.

• Tools: Ultimate Past Performances from TwinSpires and Brisnet feature BRIS Class, Pace and Speed Ratings that can be a valuable tool when handicapping races. Additional data, including trainer, jockey, track bias and pedigree stats, allow further inspection into key details and Ultimate PPs also contain a predictive Prime Power Rating for every horse that’s started. Ultimate PPs are free to TwinSpires.com players when they wager on the track and day of the product purchased.
   
• Late Pace numbers in turf routes:  BRIS Late Pace Ratings are arguably most important in turf routes, with horses waiting until the latter stages to offer their best. Saratoga features two turf courses and horses with triple-digit Late Pace numbers can have an edge in two-turn events. More races were held on turf than dirt races during the 2016 meet.
   
• Horse-for-the-course angle: Fourstardave and Quick Call aren’t remembered for their exploits at other tracks, but they’re memorialized with stakes races at Saratoga after displaying a tremendous affinity for the venue. Individual records (track, distance etc) are listed in the Ultimate PPs and it’s prudent to be aware of horses that have run well locally because they can display dramatic improvement from recent efforts elsewhere. The same applies to horses with little previous success as they can prove vulnerable if entering with good form from Belmont or another track.
   
• Different dimensions: One-turn specialists can be exposed at Saratoga given that Belmont Park runs most its dirt routes – races at a mile, 1 1/16 miles and 1 1/8 miles — at one turn. Saratoga doesn’t offer any one-mile or 1 1/16-mile races – dirt routes are held around two turns at distances of 1 1/8 miles or longer – and handicappers can take advantage by locating horses who have run well at two-turn distances previously.

Best Saratoga Racetrack picks to consider betting on

Identifying picks and best bets is important because successful horseplayers will leverage their strongest pick opinions on a program instead of wagering the same amount on every race.

Developing a game plan is simple: determine your best bets on the program and attack accordingly. Picks for your best bets can be “singled” in multi-race wagers like the Pick 3 and Pick 4; where stringing together winners is of critical importance. Singling a pick allows you to utilize more horses in other contentious races.

TwinSpires is the perfect place to bet races from Saratoga and horseplayers have confidence with the wealth of reports, including Daily Selections and Workout Reports from Brisnet.com, to help take the guesswork out of selections.

Betting picks for big payouts at Saratoga

Saratoga Racecourse Extoic Wagering Help

• $1 – Rolling Daily Double beginning in Race 1.
• $1 – Exacta on all races.
• $1 – Quinella on races two and four.
• $1 – Rolling Pick 3 beginning in Race 1.
• $0.50 – Pick 4 on races 2-5 and last four races.
• $0.50 – Pick 4 on races 3-6 and last four races when steeplechase is first race.
• $1 – Trifecta on every race with five or more betting interests (stakes, allowances and handicaps with five or more betting interests will offer trifecta betting).
• $1 – Superfecta on every race with 6 or more betting interests.
• $1 – Pick 5 beginning in race 1, except on Steeplechase days when it starts in race 2.
• $2 – Pick 6 on last six races.
• $1 – Grand Slam begins on the fifth (nine-race card), sixth (10-race card), and seventh (11 race card) race.

Saratoga Racing and Track History

The Saratoga Race Course is located in Saratoga Springs, NY. The tracks first-ever thoroughbred meet was in August, 1863 a month after the Battle of Gettysburg. Although Saratoga Race Course is considered the third oldest race track/course in the U.S., by many accounts, it is the oldest organized sporting venue of any kind in the country.

Referred to as “The Spa” (for the nearby mineral springs), the Saratoga Race Course is the gold standard and the world’s most accomplished thoroughbreds have raced on the hallowed ground.

The Travers Stakes is the oldest major thoroughbred horse race in America. Nicknamed the Midsummer Derby, the Travers brings together the greatest three-year-old horses to the race course to compete for the $1.25 million purse.

Saratoga is operated by the New York Racing Association (NYRA), and there are three separate tracks in the main course at Saratoga Race Course:

• A main (dirt) track, which is a 1 1/8-mile (9 furlong) oval. It has a 4 percent banking on the turns and the distance from final turn to the finish line is 1,144 feet.
• The Mellon Turf Course (outer) is a 1-mile (8-furlong) turf track, and has the same banking on the turns and distance from the final turn to the finish line as the main dirt track.
• The Inner Turf Course is a 7 furlong oval with the same banking on the turns and a distance from the final turn to the finish line of 1,164 feet.

Saratoga is home to some of the best racing, and betting, in the world. The Saratoga Race Course is also the oldest track in the U.S. Voted one of the top-10 sports venues of the 20th Century by Sports Illustrated, Saratoga is truly a historical jewel, and a race course that brings many of the best horses, jockeys and trainers to compete every summer.

Saratoga also has a peculiar reputation as the “Graveyard of Champions.” Four historic upsets have contributed to Saratoga’s reputation as the course where champions go to lose. They include:

1919 Man ‘o War – One of greatest race horses of all time, he won 20-of-21 races with his only loss at Saratoga.

1930 Gallant Fox – The second Triple Crown champion in history, Gallant Fox lost as heavy favorite to 100-1 long shot Jim Dandy, a race since bearing his name.

1973 Secretariat – Just a few weeks after winning the 1973 Triple Crown, Secretariat lost the Whitney Stakes to a little-known horse named Onion at the Saratoga Race Course.

2015 American Pharaoh – The Triple Crown winner won 9-of-10 career races after his initial maiden debut.  That loss was in front of a record crowd in the Travers Stakes where he finished a close second to Keen Ice, cementing Saratoga’s reputation as the “Graveyard of Champions”.

Saratoga Live Racing Post Times and Wager Menu

9 Race Cards

Note closing weekend times and number of races are different.

10 Race Cards on Steeplechase Wednesdays

10 Race Cards

Note closing weekend times and number of races are different.

11 Race Cards

Note closing weekend times and number of races are different.

Whitney Day - Saturday

When will they run the Whitney Stakes?

Travers Day - Saturday

When will they run the Travers Stakes?