Saratoga | Betting Guide | Landing Page

Saratoga > Betting Guide

Opening Friday, July 20 and concluding on Monday, September 3, the 2018 Saratoga meet continues the prestigious tradition of quality racing at the Spa. As one of racing's most prized meets and anticipated events on the calendar, the botique racing presents lucrative betting opportunities with thrilling race cards and talent.

Download this FREE betting tool from TwinSpires.com, which provides the lay of the land for the 2018 Saratoga Race Meet.

Saratoga Stakes Schedule 2018

Saratoga Graded Stakes Schedule Overview

by Alastair Bull, originally published in 2017

It’s one of the great social events in New York State, and one of the great spots for fans of the horse. Most of all, Saratoga is home to some of the best racing, and betting, in the world – even if it’s got the deserved reputation as the “Graveyard of Champions” following defeats to outstanding gallopers like Man o’War, Secretariat, and American Pharoah.

Saratoga hosts 35 graded stakes races during its summer meet, including 16 Grade I races – 13 on the dirt track and three on turf.

The richest race at the carnival is the $1.25 million Travers Stakes, the traditional midsummer highlight for 3-year-olds. Many top sophomores who’ve contested the Triple Crown target this Grade I race, but it’s also a race where horses that missed the Triple Crown can put themselves forward for 3-year-old championship rankings – it was the Travers in which Arrogate announced his presence last year with a recordbreaking victory.

The Jim Dandy Stakes (G2) is an important lead-up, and is set to be the summer starting point for many top 3-yearolds, including Preakness winner Cloud Computing.

Three-year-old dirt track fillies get two chances at Grade I honors at Saratoga – the Coaching Club American Oaks, and the Alabama Stakes Outstanding filly Songbird won both last year.

The best older horses aiming toward the Breeders’ Cup Classic have some rich targets at Saratoga, most notably the $1.2 million Whitney (G1) and the $750,000 Woodward Stakes (G1). Top races for the older females heading toward the Breeders’ Cup Distaff include the Personal Ensign (G1).

Saratoga also provides great opportunities for dirt sprinters, most notably the Alfred G. Vanderbilt (G1) July 29 and the Forego Stakes (G1). Three-year-old sprinters have one of their most notable targets of the year, the H. Allen Jerkens Memorial Stakes (G1) (formerly the King’s Bishop Stakes), while there are Grade I races for 3-year-old sprinting fillies (the Test Stakes), and fillies and mares of all ages (the Ballerina).

Watch also for the earliest Grade I tests for juveniles in the eastern states, the Spinaway Stakes for fillies and the Hopeful Stakes.

Saratoga also features three Grade I turf races. The richest of these is the $1 million Sword Dancer Handicap, over a mile and a half. It usually attracts one of the best turf fields of the season, and in the past two years was won by the outstanding Flintshire. Some of the best turf fillies and mares in the land contest the Diana Stakes (G1), and turf milers are catered for in the Fourstardave Handicap (G1).

With so much quality racing, there’s no shortage of great wagering opportunities. It will be a great meeting.

Saratoga Synonymous With 2-Year-Old Racing

by James Scully, originally published in 2017

Connections point their promising youngsters, whether regallybred or conceived on a modest budget, toward the boutique meet in upstate New York and future standouts emerge every year from Saratoga’s excellent 2-year-old program. Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming and Belmont Stakes hero Tapwrit are recent examples of major race winners who competed as juveniles at Saratoga.

Along with an abundance of maiden special weight events, Saratoga offers three graded events for each gender on dirt along with state-bred and turf stakes during the six-week session.

Let’s look at some notable 2-year-old trainers often pointing toward Saratoga:

Todd Pletcher

A 12-time leading trainer at Saratoga, Todd Pletcher had a sixyear run snapped by Chad Brown in 2016. With Brown’s forte being turf racing (he led Pletcher by a 26-8 margin last year), Pletcher needs to significantly outpace his rival in 2-year-old races in order to wrest back the crown. His advantage was 15-5 last year and Pletcher will be looking to add to his juvenile win total in 2017 with an arsenal of more than 50 horses, including many who haven’t started yet. Here are some with experience to watch for...

Steve Asmussen

The leading trainer at the spring/summer Churchill Downs meet 2017, Steve Asmussen wins plenty of 2-year-old races. Hall of Famer has conditioned numerous champions and captured 2-of-3 legs of the Triple Crown, with the Kentucky Derby being one of the few omissions on his resume. He has finished second twice, including Lookin at Lee this year, and we have the chance to see some of his early candidates for the 2018 Run for the Roses as Asmussen figures to be well-represented in both juvenile divisions at the Spa.

Mark Casse

Wesley Ward

Dale Romans

Kenny McPeek

Christophe Clement

Using All-Ways Data From BRIS To Handicap Saratoga

by Ed DeRosa, originally published in 2017

As a multi-race player, finding winners is the most important output of my handicapping process, and there’s no meeting where finding winners is at a premium more than Saratoga Race Course.

i.e. everyone wants to be right at Saratoga.

Unfortunately, being right can come at a price because Saratoga is one meeting where popular angles get hammered because the more casual players are only familiar with popular angles (like Speed Ratings, Prime Power, etc.).

Brisnet.com’s proprietary data in Ultimate Past Performances can help you find winners.

Going back to the 2007 season, which covers 3,907 races in my Brisnet.com ALLWAYS database, there have been 411 races with a horse with an edge of at least 10 in prime power, and 169 of those horses have won for a gaudy win percentage of 38.93%, but the ROI is just an OK -6% (beats the takeout, but hardly profitable, and really unlikely to be profitable because these horses are typically short priced. A best last-out Speed Rating by more than 10 points fares a little better in that the ROI is only -3% despite a fewer percentage of winners with 141 winners from 393 horses for a 35.88% strike rate.

However, when combining the two angles (a horse ranked on top of both Prime Power and last-out Speed by at least 10 points in each category), you get 73 winners from 162 horses for a win percentage of 45% and an ROI of a super impressive +16%.

Unfortunately, this angle only shows up about 1-2 times/ week at Saratoga, but it’s practically money in the bank when using Brisnet.com Ultimate Past Performances.

Here is how often the top-ranked horse in each of these Brisnet.com stat categories won their respective races in 2016 at Saratoga Race Course:

Saratoga Race Meet Statistics and Information for Handicapping

Saratoga At A Glance From the Full 2017 Meet

AVG. WINNING ODDS: 6.17 - 1, FAVORITE WIN%: 38%, FAVORITE ITM%: 70%

TRACK BIAS MEET (11/01 – 11/26)

TRACK BIAS WEEK (11/20 – 11/26)

WHO’S HOT, WHO’S NOT

Saratoga Top Jockeys and Top Trainers of the Past 3 Years, as of 2017

The information and data inside the Saratoga Betting Guide is a great resource for growing your knowledge of meet trends and potential, prior to placingb your bets. Be sure to bookmark this page, or download the PDF for printing, and acces our TwinSpires expert analysis and data anywhere.

Find more betting guides in our free online library.

The 2017 Betting Guide Information

Download the 2017 Saratoga Race Meet Guide

Saratoga Stakes Schedule 2017

Saratoga At A Glance From the Full 2016 Meet

Avg. Winning Odds: 5.29 - 1, Favorite Win%: 36%, Favorite Itm%: 68%

TRACK BIAS MEET(07/22 - 09/05)

TRACK BIAS WEEK(08/30 - 09/05)

Who's HOT, Who's NOT