up

Whitney Handicap at Saratoga Race Course is Wide Open

Rob Gregorka

Las Vegas, NV -- One of the best races this weekend takes place on Saturday afternoon at Saratoga Race Course with the 84th running of the Grade 1, $750,000 Whitney Handicap . The field of 11 is led by Grade I winners Giant Oak, Morning Line, Rail Trip and Tizway. The race is expected to be extremely competitive as seven horses are listed with single-digit horse betting odds.

Bet on the Whitney Handicap at Saratoga Race Course at Off Track Betting.

The morning line favorite is Flat Out at 4-1 but he is a beatable favorite starting from the rail. The horse won the Grade 2 Suburban Handicap last month for trainer Scooter Dickey. The second choice on the morning line is Giant Oak at 5-1. He has won more than $1.3 million in his career but has not won a race since last year. Mission Impazible, Apart and Tizway are all listed at 6-1.

Tizway is coming off a win in the Metropolitan Handicap in May and might be ready for another big effort. "It's a great, great field. This is about as good as it gets," said Tizway's trainer, H. James Bond. "He's training up to this race as good or better than he came up to the Met.

It is hard to argue with taking Mission Impazible on Saturday. The horse has hit the board in 9 of 11 starts. Trainer Todd Pletcher has won this race twice in the past and last year he was second with Quality Road.

Apart has also been a horse that finished in the money recently as he has hit the board in all five of his starts this season but has just one win.

A live longshot is Morning Line for trainer Nick Zito. "He has to be in the race early," Zito said. "Johnny [Velazquez] will put him into the race and get a good spot. Fitness-wise, he is very fit. I have no excuse fitness-wise... I thought he would be 4-1, 5-1 or 6-1. It just shows you how deep the field is and how strong it is, obviously, for a horse of his magnitude to be 10-1."

The winner of Saturday's race will get an automatic spot in the Breeders' Cup Classic at Churchill Downs in November. The Whitney is the 10th race on the card at Saratoga on Saturday and has a scheduled post time of 5:45 p.m. Eastern. The race can be seen live on the Versus television network.

Post

Horse

Jockey

ML Odds

1

Flat Out

A. Solis

4-1

2

Friend or Foe

J. Lezcano

8-1

3

Morning Line

J. Velazquez

10-1

4

Giant Oak

S. Bridgmohan

5-1

5

Tizway

R. Maragh

6-1

6

Mission Impazible

J. Castellano

6-1

7

Rail Trip

R. Dominguez

12-1

8

Headache

M. Mena

20-1

9

Rodman

E. Prado

20-1

10

Apart

J. Leparoux

6-1

11

Duke of Mischief

J. Bravo

8-1

Live Racing Schedule

Race Tracks Time (EST)