Until a bunch of 2-year-old fillies turn the Schuylerville into a three-ring circus.
The 156th Saratoga Race Course meet opened on Thursday with a 25-year-old Preakness-winning jockey guiding a grizzled 8-year-old chestnut to victory for trainer Rob Falcone Jr., who equaled his total number of victories for the previous two Saratoga meets combined before the 2024 meet was barely a few minutes old.
When the meet was five hours old, in the 10th race, mayhem ensued in the Schuylerville for 2-year-old fillies, as the morning-line favorite, Complexion, had to be reloaded after banging herself around in the starting gate. Then two fillies lost their riders and got loose after the start of the race.
Afterward, Complexion’s trainer, Danny Gargan, went on an expletive-laced rant to track officials via the phone in the winner’s circle, slamming it down and storming away.
It seemed only natural that the longest shot on the toteboard, 44-1 The Queens M G, should win it. Which she did.
Never a dull moment.
As usual, Saratoga offered its mix of great racing and compelling stories and betting prospects.
Maintaining a tradition established by Tom Durkin, track announcer Frank Mirahmadi coached up the crowd of 28,541 to chant “And they’re off at Saratoga!” along with him as the starting gates opened for the first race.
Jaime Torres, a 25-year-old from Puerto Rico who did not start riding competitively until 2019 and rode his first race in the U.S. just under two years ago, won the first race aboard Empty Tomb.
Making his 34th career start, Empty Tomb got to the front right from the start and held that position all the way to the wire to win by four lengths at betting odds of 4-1.
Falcone won just one race from 24 starters at Saratoga last year, after having gone 0-for-14 in 2022.
Asked if there was a sense of relief to get one — in the first race of the meet, no less — he said, “Yeah, especially when your last two years haven’t been too hot up here. So to get the first one out of the way is pretty nice.”
Much of Falcone’s stable consists of claiming horses, available to be purchased at a set price afterward by anyone who submits a claim beforehand.
Empty Tomb has some graded stakes history, but on Saturday he ran under a $20,000 claiming tag. He’s been in Falcone’s barn since 2021.
“We claimed him here in Saratoga. For a lot more than 20 [thousand],” Falcone said with a laugh. Fortunately for his barn, nobody claimed Empty Tomb out of Thursday’s race, so they’ll get to run him again at the Spa.
Torres hadn’t even ridden a race in the U.S. when Falcone picked up Empty Tomb.
His career skyrocketed, though, when he won the Preakness at Pimlico on May 18 aboard Seize the Grey, who is targeting the $1.25 million Travers at Saratoga on Aug. 24. Torres also rode Seize the Grey to a maiden victory at Saratoga last year, beating this year’s Belmont Stakes winner, Dornoch, by a length and a half.
“I remember last year I rode in the first race of the meet, too, I got third, so I got a little taste, and I was like, wow, how is it going to feel like winning the first race?” he said. “Today, we made it.”
Maintaining another less-appealing Saratoga tradition, Mother Nature pounded the track with enough rain overnight to prompt the New York Racing Association to move all five turf races onto the main dirt track.
Sure enough, three of the five were won by horses who had been entered for main track only (MTO), including Amanda’s Folly in the second race, which scratched down to a three-horse field.
Even though the rain was long gone by the time the card started and the main track was rated “Fast,” it was an unwanted head start to approaching last year’s rainfest, which resulted in a whopping 65 turf races being moved to the main track.
At a track where favorites win at over 35%, the betting public got it all wrong in the third race when 2-1 Miss Maximus finished last of 11. Meanwhile, 51-1 Mia Nipotina got up for fourth place to complete a dime superfecta that paid $1,074.55.
Hope you had it.
The feature race, the $175,000 Schuylerville, drew a field of 11 juvenile fillies, many of whom came into the race off impressive victories.
The Queens M G wasn’t one of them, having finished 18 lengths behind Whatintheliteral at Saratoga on June 6 during the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival.
Complexion was one of them, having won by 6 1/2 lengths at Churchill Downs in her career debut on June 14. But in the Schuylerville, she dumped jockey John Velazquez twice in the starting gate and was backed out and reloaded while the rest of the field cooled their heels in the gate.
As soon as the gates opened, Whatintheliteral stumbled badly and fell to her face as jockey Javier Castellano fell out of the saddle. She eventually was caught by an outrider and walked off.
Slang, meanwhile, was eased by jockey Ricardo Santana Jr. coming around the turn and pulled up before dropping Santana and taking off again. She was caught near the seven-furlong chute after having gone around the clubhouse turn while the Schuylerville finishers were galloping out.
Both jockeys were OK, and Slang walked onto an equine ambulance and was driven off.
The livid Gargan got on the phone in the winner’s circle and to voice his displeasure with events at the starting gate, hollering “This is a debacle!” before slamming the phone down and giving NYRA president and CEO Dave O’Rourke a quick earful before storming off.
Oh, remember the winner, The Queens M G?
Ridden by Saratoga Springs High School graduate Dylan Davis, she rebounded from the Astoria to win the Schuylerville by 2 3/4 lengths.
“It is incredible,” Davis said. “Saratoga native, and any win is special here, but to win the feature of the day is great.”
“Last time at Saratoga she was the favorite and she didn’t even show up,” trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr., said. “She ran as poor as a horse could run, and we were feeling really down.
“I figured we’d carry forward like that race didn’t exist and train her to the Schuylerville. We had nothing to lose by running, and she showed today that she’s a good horse.”
