Why Saratoga jockeys are being lured away our last weekend
Here’s who you’ll see if headed to the track this beautifully chill, for-the-locals weekend.
A lot of our favorite Saratoga jockeys are packing up this Labor Day Weekend and heading south to Kentucky Downs for Saturday’s Grade 3 DK Horse Nashville Derby Invitational Stakes — which this year has a staggering $3.5 million purse.
That’s the second-highest for any turf race in the country, behind only the Breeders’ Cup. By comparison, last year — the first since the race was renamed from the Dueling Grounds Derby — it had a more modest purse of $2.5 million.
So who’s leaving us when? All is not lost! Let’s take a peek.
Last year, the Nashville Derby Invitational lured the likes of Joel Rosario, John Valazquez, Jose Ortiz and Flavien Prat away from Saratoga.
This year? Even more of our regular jockeys will be missing either part or all of the Spa’s final weekend, including Manny Franco, Junior Alvarado, Rosario, both Jose Ortiz and Irad Ortiz, and Luis Saez.
Jose and Saez are making their getaway to Kentucky Downs sooner than most; they’re both racing down south starting today.
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Others are headed to Kentucky Downs just in time for the Derby on Saturday — Franco, Alvarado, Rosario and Irad are splitting their time between locations this week. All will be back on Sunday, when the big race will be the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup, bringing back Highland Falls, Sierra Leone, Mindframe and White Abarrio. Velazquez will also be back from suspension in time for Sunday and will most likely race Monday, too. (Labor Day’s entries haven’t been released yet.)
Headed to Saratoga Race Course on Saturday? You’ll still have plenty of familiar faces to root for. Jose Lezcano, Ricardo Santana Jr., Kendrick Carmouche, Christopher Elliott and Dylan Davis — among many others — will be riding. Big races include the Grade 2 Flower Bowl Stakes and the Grade 1 Spinaway.
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