Saratoga Race Course was once famed as “The August Place to Be.”
The summer racing meet has long since moved its start date into July — this year, in fact, it started earlier than ever — but with all the high-profile racing on tap for this August, the Spa is certainly living up to one of its nicknames
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Saturday’s card, highlighted by the Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes, kicks off what’s lining up to be a blockbuster month of racing at the Union Avenue track. The next five weekends will feature some of the biggest races on the American thoroughbred calendar, including a star-studded edition of the Grade 1 Whitney on Aug. 8 and culminating with the 157th running of the Travers on Aug. 29, which is set to see the racing return of 2026 Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner Golden Tempo
“Things,” trainer Steve Asmussen said, “are really starting to ramp up.”
Some of August’s biggest stars at Saratoga will come from Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse’s barn. He’ll saddle Silent Tactic in Saturday’s Jim Dandy with the hopes of springboarding the colt into the Travers, will send superstar filly Nitrogen out the following weekend to face some of the country’s top male horses in the Whitney, and has 3-year-old filly standout Counting Stars aiming for the Alabama on Aug. 22 after impressive Saratoga wins in the Acorn and Coaching Club American Oaks.
Casse can feel the energy ramping up
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“When you’re downtown right now, the real big horse lovers, they’re used to coming now,” he said. “It does give a little more attention, a bigger crowd.”
Saturday’s $500,000, 1 ⅛-mile Jim Dandy gets the August festivities started. The primary local prep for the Travers only drew a five-horse field, and while trainer Cherie DeVaux opted not to send Golden Tempo to the race after his training was disrupted by illness, there’s still plenty of firepower
Commandment, trained by Brad Cox, is the 6-5 favorite in the morning-line odds. The Florida Derby winner was a disappointing seventh after a troubled trip in the Kentucky Derby, but came back to finish as the clear second-best behind Golden Tempo in the Belmont on June 6 at Saratoga
“His only real blemish was the Derby, but, aside from that, he’s been ultra-consistent and he gave us confidence leading up to the Belmont that he was going to run a big race, and he did,” Cox told the New York Racing Association. “We’ve seen more of the same since then.”
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Just behind Commandment on the morning line is Todd Pletcher’s Renegade. The Arkansas Derby winner, who already has more than $2.2 million in career earnings, was strides away from giving Pletcher the trainer’s third Kentucky Derby winner, only to see a late-surging Golden Tempo win by a neck
When the two met again five weeks later in the Belmont, Renegade was a non-factor third, finishing 5 ¼ lengths behind Golden Tempo and four lengths behind runner-up Commandment
Pletcher is hopeful for a strong summer campaign
“I think Golden Tempo has got to be the leader of the division based on the Derby and the Belmont win. So, we need to run the table to have any chance to unseat him at this stage,” Pletcher told NYRA. “I think if he were lucky enough to do something like that, then, maybe, you can make an argument. We’re more focused on trying to do well in the Jim Dandy and the Travers, and see what we can do.”
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Chip Honcho, the third-place finisher in the Preakness and winner of the Ohio Derby in June, is the 3-1 third choice for Asmussen. The Hall of Famer said that the combination of a five-horse field and the inside post position could make Chip Honcho the de facto pacesetter under jockey Jose Ortiz in a Jim Dandy that, on paper, lacks speed
Casse’s Silent Tactic, who was second to Renegade in the Arkansas Derby, will be making his first start since that March 28 race when he enters the gate in the Jim Dandy. Silent Tactic was entered in the Kentucky Derby, but scratched a few days before the race with a bruised foot
“He has to come back and compete at the top level,” Casse said. “Normally, with an average horse, I would bring him back in an easier spot. I don’t have that option. There is none. So, it’s difficult, but that’s the bad news. The good news is, I’ve done all with him that I wanted to do. He hasn’t missed a beat, and he’s ready to run
“Is he 100%? Probably not. But, I just want him to be competitive, and I want this race to lead to bigger and better things.”
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The five-horse Jim Dandy field is rounded out by longshot Asked and Answered, an Antonio Arriaga-trained colt who is winless in six career starts
This month, though, the Jim Dandy is just an appetizer. There are plenty of main courses to come throughout August, starting with next weekend’s Whitney
That race presents a highly anticipated showdown that will see Nitrogen challenge a field expected to include reigning Horse of the Year Sovereignty in his first race at Saratoga since his blowout 2025 Travers win, as well as Asmussen’s Magnitude, who won the Dubai World Cup in the spring and beat Sovereignty in the Stephen Foster at Churchill Downs in June
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“It’s some extremely accomplished horses targeting the Whitney right now,” Asmussen said. “Unbelievable opportunity for everybody involved, and we’re very fortunate to have Magnitude going into it.”
