Today is the 150th Anniversary of the opening of Saratoga Racecourse. It's very fitting that the Whitney is the feature race of the day! Here are my top 8 Favorite races from the vaunted track. Please note that these races are all within the past 10 years as that's how long I've been following racing. Sorry I left out many great races including several that I've seen. They include Afleet Alex's Hopeful win and Lost in the Fog's King's Bishop.
8. 2006 Whitney: Sun King who had run in the previous year's Triple Crown races gave Uruguay's Triple Crown winner Invasor (ARG) all he could handle. Of course Invasor would go onto win the Breeders Cup Classic and Horse of the Year honors.
See the race here
7. 2003 Alabama: Just two months after he denied Funny Cide the Triple Crown, it was Bobby Frankel's turn to be the deniee. The denier? Why Barclay Tagg of course. His new charge, Island Fashion denied Frankel's Spoken Fur the Triple Tiara. In a little bit of ironry, she finished the same place Funny did in the Belmont, third.
See the race here
6. 2008 Alabama: In their first meeting, Godolphin took first blood when Music Note beat the Oaks winner Proud Spell who was dq'ed from her placement. Each was coming off a win in their previous race when they met for a race that is more important now to the 3yo honors then the KY Oaks. Proud Spell would be as game as they come and hold off Music Note to capture 3yo filly honors over her late stablemate Eight Belles and Music Note.
See the race here
5. 2011 Woodward: Even without her longtime rival Blind Luck, Havre de Grace can make noise. It was after an incredible Delaware Handicap that it was decided that she would pass the Personal Ensign and wait a week for the Woodward in order to take on the boys. In that race she would defeat future 2 time JCGC winner Flat Out and Funny Cide's nephew Rule. She was named the 2011 Horse of the Year.
See the race here
4. 2010 Alabama: One was the Oaks winner from CA, the other from the 2005 HOY's only crop was from Delaware. In what was then their second meeting after Blind Luck had defeated Havre de Grace in the Delaware Oaks, they proved that race was no fluke. Blind Luck got the win and 3yo filly honors.
See the race here
3. 2007 King's Bishop: Here's a shocker! Hard Spun didn't make my top two, in all serious though the two races that beat this one are very good. Coming off a runner up finish in the Haskell, he shortened up to face some really nice sprinters including Tueflesburg who had handed him his first loss of his career. Still, he was able to hold off First Defense in a great duel down the stretch.
See the race here
2. 2012 Travers: With I'll Have Another and Union Rags both retired, the Travers was going to be a snooze fest, or so everyone thought. Golden Ticket and Alpha put on a show that resulted in only the second dead heat in the Mid Summer Derby ever.
See the race here
1. 2009 Woodward: Beat the Derby winner? Check (Preakness). Beat the Belmont winner? Check (Haskell). There was only one more thing that she had to do in order to put herself among the best three year olds in the past 20 years and possibly the one of greatest 3yo fillies of all time. Rachel Alexandra faced several very nice horses in the Woodward. They included that years Whitney winner Bullsbay, the runner up of that race Macho Again, Da' Tara who won the Belmont the previous year UAE's Triple Crown winner Asiatic Boy (ARG), It's a Bird trained by the son of the owner of Affirmed, Cool Coal Man who was always tough and Pass the Point who had given her future husband Curlin all he could handle in the previous years race. No filly had won the race and the last time a three year had won? The race was still at Belmont. So what happened? Well they gave her all she could handle, and she took it all. As Tom Durkin said after the race, she certinally raised the rafters on her way to Horse of the Year honors.
See the race here
