Saratoga: Grade III Schuylerville, Lake George Headline Opening Day

By Rick Francis —-

The girls headline 154th Saratoga opening day with the running of the Grade 3 Schuylerville for juvenile fillies, followed next race with the G3 Lake George for the 3-year-old ladies. It’ll be forty days of top shelf racing to come; let’s take a look at today’s players.

Race 8), 6 Furlongs. ™ Schuylerville S. Grade III. Purse $150,000 FOR FILLIES TWO YEARS OLD
Post Time: ( 5:02)/ 4:02/ 3:02/ 2:02 ADVANCED FORECAST: Partly Sunny, High 87 Low 63

Mel’s Gone Wild (1), Wildcat Heir; dominated in Parx debut posting field’s top speed figure; runner-up a next out winner.

Buy Sell Hold (2), Violence; prevailed over the boys last out in the KY Juvenile; trainer with 2-year-olds almost 20 percent.

Best Performance (3), Broken Vow; exits a strong Belmont meet and speedy work here.

Dream It Is (4), Shackleford; makes dirt debut after back-to-back wins over the Woodbine synthetic.

Limited View (5), Freedom Child; first out winner at Laurel, solid work tab.

Pacific Gale (6), Flat Out; first lasix after holding off Belmont maidens; keep your eyes on this one.

Laudation (7), Congrats; bested a solid field at Churchill; barn is ready to fire this meet.

Snowfire (8), Tapit; rolled in her debut last month, a win at today’s route; bullet work in prep.

Stainless (9), Flatter, debut win came over a speed favoring Gulfstream track; connections are too tough to ignore.

Selections: 2, 6, 9, 7

Race 9) 1ˆ Mile. (Turf) ™ Lake George S. Grade III. Purse $150,000 FOR FILLIES THREE YEARS OLD
Post Time: ( 5:40)/ 4:40/ 3:40/ 2:40

Dream Dancing (11), Casse/Leparoux; finished up a game third last out in the Wonder Again; owns a first and second from her two Saratoga starts; bullet work a week ago.

Fifty Five (1), Brown/Ortiz, J; got the better of the aforementioned to pace in the G3 Wonder Again, a contest both were flattered by the winner taking her next out. Chad Brown is so dangerous here, you can’t ignore.

Defiant Honor (3), Toner/Velasquez, J; after a 6-month freshening, Speightstown filly rebounded from her runner-up spot in the Grade 3 Durante out west to best Belmont allowance girls late last month; seconds off the layoff for trainer Toner, 19 percent.

Party Boat (7), Motion/Rosario; filly has finished across the board in her last three starts, all stakes contests; trainer/jock team, 31 percent on the year.

Selections: 11, 1, 3, 7.