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Belmont at Saratoga’s coming back for Round 3! The Spa will host a special July 4 meet! Sovereignty, Journalism, Sierra Leone’s return!
With all of the headlines blaring from Saratoga Race Course already this year, it’s no wonder that a Triple Crown-winning jockey’s move to Saratoga was met with barely a whisper.
Victor Espinoza — who rode the mighty American Pharoah to greatness in the 2015 Triple Crown — got off to a bumpy start on Saturday, but the revered history-maker is going to be here with us all summer.
The iconic jockey, 53, raced three times on July 5, failing to make the board. But America’s Day at the Races was ready with a beautiful retrospective anyway, to roll out a warm Saratoga welcome. The video montage not only covered the 2015 Triple Crown — but also American Pharoah’s famous Travers loss that followed. (Keen Ice eked out that upset, by three quarters of a length.)
“Victor Espinoza riding full time this summer at the Spa,” announced Laffit Pincay III while breaking the news during Saturday’s broadcast. “[He’s] going to spend a summer here at Saratoga, going from California to New York,” he said, before comparing the bold move to Flavien Prat’s similar play last year. “It worked well for that gentleman [Prat], right? [He had a] record-breaking season and summer last year at Saratoga.”
We’ll see how tough of a time Espinoza has breaking into the Saratoga roster, but he is scheduled to ride on some pretty good horses during this opening weekend of the traditional meet. Catch the three-time Kentucky Derby winner in Race 4, 6 and 10 on Thursday and Race 9 on Saturday.
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