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The 9th race on this Saratoga card was what would have been called a Classified Allowance race 20 years ago. A race written for top class horses with specific conditions that excluded recent winners of specific race types. This race excluded all Graded stakes winners in 2015. In American racing there are a number of marque female races. Looking at the #5 horse's pps in the Trip notes you see: The Kentucky Oaks, The Acorn, The Coaching Club American, The Alabama and the Breeders' Cup Distaff. This filly/mare had run very well against the very best of her sex for the last 2 years and beaten most of them. She just had the misfortune to be born the same year as UNTAPABLE, arguably the best of her generation. In her second lifetime start she ran at today's distance in a time that would win today 1:21.9 AS A 2 YEAR OLD. Look at her workouts: 59 days ago she worked 5f in 59.6 that was her 2nd published work so they did most of the foundation work at the farm. If you look at the #3 you see a very traditional work pattern for a laid off horse, two 3f, two 4f, 5f, then 6f then a 3f blowout 7 days ago. Horses have to convert cartilage in their Cannon bones to solid bone before working at longer distances at racing speeds. Both of these fillies have been prepared by good competent horsemen. Dallas Stewart generally has a horse in the Kentucky Derby most years and annually is in the top 10 in money won.
Highly competitive top quality horses don't really know that a race is the first or the fifth race after layoff. When the race is being run the juices are flowing and their only limitation is their conditioning. They may tire prematurely. Additionally, a horse returning from a lengthy layoff is fresh, healthy and you can generally rely on the fact that they are sound and whatever ailed them is no longer an issue. In the hands of good horsemen that know their horses and in the absence of comparable quality horses as mandated by the race conditions, it really becomes a matter of price. 7/2 on the #5 was a gift.
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