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Winter Memories Favored in Wednesday's Lake George Stakes at Saratoga

Rob Gregorka

Las Vegas, NV -- It is somewhat rare when you get a stakes race in the middle of the week but that will be the case on Wednesday at Saratoga Race Course with the Grade 2 $150,000 Lake George Stakes . The race has some high profile entrants led by Winter Memories, who is the even money favorite in horse betting.

Wednesday's race will be a rematch of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf that saw More Than Real beat Winter Memories. If the race goes on the turf as scheduled then it will be a field of six. If it is switched to the main track then Marion Ravenwood would also be in the field.

In last year's BC Juvenile Fillies it was More Than Real getting the early lead on Winter Memories and holding on for a two-length win. It is the only time that Winter Memories has been beaten. She is coming into Wednesday's race off a layoff, having last run in the Sands Point on May 30th where she won.

Bet on the Lake George Stakes, Grade 2 horse race at Off Track Betting.

"It's a little longer between races than I'd normally like, but the other options were to go to Virginia or California, and I preferred to wait the extra week and run here instead of shipping," Toner said. His other horse, Sunlight Sonata, is expected to set a good pace but is not without a chance. "Sunlight Sonata is a good filly in her own right," Toner said. "Maybe she goes out there, everybody takes back and who knows what could happen."

Most of the horses in Wednesday's race come from the stables of trainers Jimmy Toner and Todd Pletcher. Toner has Winter Memories and Sunlight Sonata while Pletcher has More Than Real and Bellamy Star. The other two horses in the field are Calmafterthestorm and Little Miss Holly.

It is hard to make any case for taking More Than Real at horse wagering odds of 2-1. The horse is making only her second start since the Breeders' Cup race in November. She ran at Ascot in the Coronation Stakes and was never in contention. "It's a tough enough challenge to go over there and then it rained and we caught a bog of a course," Pletcher said. "We were hoping she might handle it, but it didn't work out and as a result we're going up against Winter Memories under less than ideal circumstances since we'll be giving up a bit of seasoning, considering she's had two races this year and our filly really did not run much in her last."

Here is the full field for the Grade 2: 2011 Lake George Stakes:

Post

Horse

ML Odds

1

Little Miss Holly

12-1

2

Sunlight Sonata

10-1

3

Calmafterthestorm

15-1

4

Winter Memories

1-1

5

Bellamy Star

5-1

6

More Than Real

2-1

7

Marion Ravenwood

8-5

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