ALINGHI looks all the class in this race with only a couple of others racing well consistently at the Graded Levels. Ironically, this turf race looks full of speed with at over half the field wantig the lead or just off it and from the way our form reads, Alinghi looks to show early speed and have Edgar Prado postion her just behind the first pack of speedsters. The others trying this tactic should be

#6 Stupendous Miss (trained by Wallace Dollase 6-1-1-1 at Sar 2005 w/ Gary Stevens up)
#11 Snowdrops (Cristophe Clemente 16-4-2-1 Sar 2005 w/ Jerry Bailey up after opting off #7 Delta Princess trained by his main emplyer Bill Mott)
#12 Que Puntual (Angel Penna,Jr. 10-1-3-1 Sar 2005 w/ Cornelio Velasquez)
and of course #10 Alinghi (Bobby Frankel (33-6-7-4 Sar 2005 w/ Prado 20% wins Sar 2005)


Behind these should be
#3 Spring Season (Johnathon Sheppard 21-1-2-3 SAr2005 w/ Ramon Dominguez-great turf rider from my neck of the woods giving it a go at the best meet in the United States, Sheppard also stables at Delaware Park and is known for his turf and steeplechase expertise although he has tailed off as late)
#7 Delta Princess (Mott 54-8-13-8 Sar2005 w/ Robbie Albarado)
#8 Cloak of Vagueness (Phil Hauswald (7-1-0-0 Sar 2005 w/ Eibar Coa another Del Park rider up)
#9 Risakverse (PJ Kelly 27-3-1-2 Sar 2005 after winning 2 races on Sat. w/Jose Santos up)

all trying to make one late run on the top two flights.

If the turf comes up soft to good as it might, it may stop the horses up front and favor the closers. Frankel says Alinghi will be closing at this distance and that she was a bleeder in Australia, so the lasix should help her get this distance.

Personally, I feel that the distance may be too much for Alinghi (1 1/16 miles) and that she will make a big run, but fall short in this one due to so many factors working against her including the bad post position, the first race in North America and in 5 months, and the different type of racing than she is used to.

She certainly is the class of this field but I fell that her connections have MUCH bigger goals than the Ballston Spa on a Monday afternoon at Saratoga. She may be in for a good tune up for the fall Breeder Cup preps and the F+M turf at 1 3/8 M. She would be no surprise however if she won.

I will play #8 cloak of VAugeness and # 9 Riskaverse (who one time was a classy graded performer and may be getting back to her old self, Not to mention she likes the Saratoga course and PJ Kelly is on a small roll)
followed by #10 Alinghi, #3 Spring Season, and #12 Que Puntual.

8-9-10,3,12

Good Luck mates down under and no matter what happens here, there is a whole lot more racing ahead for Alinghi.