Travers, Whitney Among 18 Grade I Events To Be Contested at Saratoga

[Wandering Eyes]

Officials at the New York Racing Association (NYRA) have released a 64-strong stakes schedule for the 2025 summer meeting at Saratoga Race Course. The 40-day stand will kick off on Thursday, July 10 and will continue through Labor Day, Sept. 1.

Over $20 million in prize money is to be offered across the added-money events, anchored by three seven-figure fixtures, the $1.25-million GI DraftKings Travers Stakes on Aug. 23; the $1-million GI Whitney Stakes on Aug. 2; and the $1-million GI Jockey Club Gold Cup on Aug. 31.

The meet's first elite-level events comes on Saturday, July 12, when older females take to the turf for the GI Diana Stakes, and all bar one of the remaining weekends feature at least one Grade I test. Sophomore fillies have two such opportunities at the Spa, the first in the Coaching Club American Oaks over nine furlongs on the main track on Saturday, July 19 which serves as a stepping-stone to the meet's premier main-track race for the 3-year-old fillies, the $600,000 GI Alabama Stakes presented by Keeneland Sales at a mile and a quarter on Saturday, Aug. 16.

The $500,000 GII Jim Dandy Stakes is the featured event on the only Saratoga weekend void of Grade I action on Saturday, July 26 and will toss up its fair share of runners for the Travers four weeks down the road. The turf series for 3-year-old fillies gets going on the same program with the running of the GIII Lake George Stakes.

The Whitney is one of four elite-level events set for Aug. 2, which also includes the FanDuel Fourstardave Stakes, moved forward by a week; the Test Stakes presented by Ticketmaster; and the Saratoga Derby Invitational Stakes. The program also features the GII Troy Stakes for older turf sprinters and the GII Saratoga Special Stakes for juvenile males.

The GI Sword Dancer Stakes, customarily part of Travers Stakes, owns pride of place on the Saturday, Aug. 9 card and is supported by the GII Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Oaks Invitational Stakes.

A total of $3.65 million is up for grabs on Travers Day, which also includes the GI H. Allen Jerkens Stakes for 3-year-olds; the GI Resorts World Casino Ballerina Stakes for female sprinters; the male counterpart, the GI Forego Stakes; and the GI Personal Ensign Stakes for older fillies and mares on the main track. The GII Lake Placid Stakes for 3-year-old fillies, also run Aug. 23, has been shortened to a mile and sees its purse doubled to $400,000.

The final three Grade Is take place over closing weekend, with the GI Spinaway Stakes on Saturday, Aug. 30; the Gold Cup on the 31st; and the GI Hopeful Stakes on Labor Day, Sept. 1.

The stakes schedule also includes eight events restricted to horses bred in the state of New York, while the National Steeplechase Association will stage the $150,000 A.P. Smithwick Memorial Stakes on July 23 and the $150,000 Jonathan Sheppard Memorial Stakes on Aug. 20.

Click here for the entire Saratoga stakes schedule.

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