There are two stakes, one over the jumps, today at Saratoga, and a handful of Midlantic-breds in them.
In the Mrs. Ogden Phipps Stakes for older fillies and mares over the jumps, three horses bred in Pennsylvania are among the seven entrants. Jonathan Sheppard trains two of them, Brilliant Match (5-2) and Sully’s Approach (12-1), while Jack Fisher sends out Opera Heroine (4-1).
Three races later is the Birdstone Stakes, a lengthy 1 3/4 miles on the main track. Virginia-bred Irsaal is 4-1 on the morning line in a field of six. The four-year-old son of More Than Ready-Quiet Now, by Tiznow was bred by Edward P. Evans and is trained by Kiaran McLaughlin for Shadwell Stable. He’s won four of 15 career starts with earnings over $241,000; his best stake result was a third-place finish in last year’s Easy Goer Stakes on the Belmont Stakes undercard. Oddly enough, one of the two to beat him in that race, Micromanage, is the 4-5 favorite here.
