If Saturday’s Belmont Stakes is the main course for Saratoga’s Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, the 14-race card Friday can be considered an appealing appetizer. Not only are there three Grade 1 and two Grade 2 stakes to wager on, Xpressbet and 1/ST BET are offering an exciting Exacta-Thon promotion that allows bettors to win up to $10,000 in bonus cash on both days. The rules are simple: If you wager the $2 base minimum on six winning exacta combinations, you will win or share $8,000 in prize money on Friday and/or Saturday. The contestant(s) with the most winning exactas will win or share an additional $2,000. The exacta payout amounts have no bearing on the outcome. Bet on six winning exactas during the card and you win, plain and simple.
For more Belmont Stakes coverage, access the free 1/ST Belmont Stakes Wager Guide.
Race 1:
My best bet of the afternoon comes in the lid lifter where I love the chances of second-time starter #6 Margie’s Girl. The $345k FTK July ’25 purchase was not expected to take much money in her first start based on human connections and other data, but took a ton of support at the windows suggesting there was more to her than one might think. The daughter of Vekoma broke well in Louisville at first asking, but was outsprinted early forcing jockey Luan Machado to make a wide before she was able to find her best stride late. A big move forward should be expected with the start under her belt and a rider switch to the hottest rider on the continent. Hopefully, the Kenny McPeek trainee can start the day off the right way in this 5.5-furlong dash over the main track.
Play: #6 Margie’s Girl (3-1 ML)
Race 2: Jersey Girl
The lone non-graded stakes event on the Thursday slate is this 6-furlong dash for 3YO filly sprinters where #6 Mythical is expected to go off the prohibitive favorite. The Florida-bred heads back to New York after rattling off a pair of easy victories at Gulfstream Park this spring for trainer Jorge Delgado. There is no doubt the daughter of St Patrick’s Day is the one to beat, but I will take a swing against her with #4 Paige Turner. The Cherie DeVaux trainee was clearly well-meant in her first race off the layoff on May 1 at Churchill Downs, but it was #1 Carmel Coast who got the jump and had no desire in stopping. Carmel Coast also returns in this spot, but draws the rail and should have things a bit tougher in the early stages. This would bode well for the $350k OBS March ’25 purchase that has done little wrong thus far through four starts. Paige Turner is a filly I have always been extremely high on and should be the best price of her career since being sent off at 6-1 over this surface last August on debut.
Play: #4 Paige Turner (4-1 ML)
Race 8: Intercontinental (G3)
My final play of the afternoon comes in this aforementioned 5.5-furlong turf dash for older fillies and mares where 3-1-ML favorite #3 In Our Time (pictured) should be a tough customer. The daughter of Not This Time cut back in distance in April in the Giant’s Causeway (G2) at Keeneland after a pair of starts against quality competition going two-turns. Saffie Joseph Jr. turned to jockey Flavien Prat in Kentucky last out and it paid dividends. Prat found a perfect spot early after breaking well and cruised home to an easy victory in the end. Often times fading runners off favorable trips can be a winning strategy, but In Our Time projects to get the same trip here against a field she should be able to handle. I will key her on top in verticals and single her in late horizontals.
Play: #3 In Our Time (3-1 ML)
We’ll try to get you started with five exactas on the Friday card listed below that will cost $84 to play:
Saratoga 2nd Race (12:19 p.m. EST)
Morning-line favorite KENNY BE showed promise at the onset of his career and appears rounding back to his stakes-placed form as a 2-year-old after a sub-par 2025 season. But try to beat him in the Exacta-Thon on the grounds that the runners he beat in his first victory are 10-for-69 since then with only two allowance wins, and the rivals he ran away from last out were 9-for-60 heading into the entry-level allowance for New York breds. ELYSIAN MEADOWS rallied for two seconds and a third in four allowance sprints, spanning five starts since March of last year. But he should get ample pace flow to launch another contending rally. HIT THE POST was out-dueled by the winner in his seasonal debut at 7F on a sloppy track and finished a length behind Elysian Meadows. But he broke his maiden in style off a layoff last year and shows a fastest-of-37 workout at the training track here since his last start.
$2 Exacta-Thon Wagers: 2, 3 with 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 (Cost $20)
Saratoga 4th Race (1:29 p.m. EST)
WAYS AND MEANS has an unmistakable way about her at Saratoga. Pick a superlative – brilliant, jaw-dropping, timeless – and it applies to the 5-year-old mare’s history at the upstate New York track. She won her debut here by 12-1/2 lengths, the Grade 1 Test on a muddy track at this distance as a 3-year-old and posted a 111 Beyer speed figure when she romped in the Grade 2 Bed ‘O Roses last June at age 4 to set up today’s title defense. Her only loss locally was a troubled second in the Grade 1 Spinaway. But she could face one of her toughest challenges in the form of GRAND JOB, who arrived from Ireland in the Fall of 2023. She won three of her first four starts stateside by 19-1/4 lengths and upstaged that run through the allowance ranks with a pair of triple-digit speed figures in winning the Grade 2 Inside Information and missing by a nose in the Grade 1 Madison at Keeneland, both at 7F. If the favorites don’t run 1-2, the versatile SENZA, a smashing debut winner at Saratoga two years ago, or late running, two-time graded stakes winner PRAYING could sneak into the exacta.
$2 Exacta-Thon Wager: 3 with 1, 4, 5 (Cost $6)
Saratoga 8th Race (3:52 p.m. EST)
MENTEE appeared hopelessly beaten when an erratic, onrushing rival cut in front of him at the half-mile marker, forcing him to check and lose several lengths in a 6F turf sprint. But he recovered well from the mishap, hitting his best stride in the stretch to finish third on the yielding turf. In similar fashion, the well-traveled BOLTAGE was well-reserved while saving ground on the backstretch, but he lost all chance when forced to check sharply. He dropped back to last on the turn, then rallied strongly in the stretch to get beat 2-1/4 lengths in a six-figure allowance at Keeneland. GOLD TRUST, one of seven entrants with $200,000-plus in grass earnings, won 3 of his last 5 sprints and looks to bounce back off a sub-par effort in his second start off a layoff like he did in winning an allowance race last year. It’s anybody’s race in here, so put the three aforementioned runners on top of a deep ticket.
$2 Exacta-Thon Wagers: 6, 7, 10 with 3, 4, 6, 7, 10, 12 (Cost: $30)
Saratoga 10th Race Acorn Stakes (5:08 p.m. EST)
ALWAYS A RUNNER stalked a fast pace, advanced 3-wide on the final turn and drove past the dueling leaders in the final sixteenth of the Kentucky Oaks (G-1) to remain unbeaten in three starts. She will be a popular Exacta-Thon play against similar rivals in today’s Grade 1 Acorn at the same 1-1/8-mile distance. But don’t sell PROM QUEEN short as a better price option in the rematch. She was visually impressive and handled with supreme confidence when winning the Gulfstream Park Oaks (G-2) in the race prior. But in the Kentucky Oaks, she was squeezed shortly after the break, raced far back on the backstretch, rallied extremely wide on the turn and finished willingly when angled inside through the lane. She could change tactics from the rail and be the target today.
$2 Exacta-Thon Wagers: 1-2, 1-3, 1-5 and 5-1 (Cost $8)
Saratoga 13th Race (7:04 p.m. EST)
KARLEY B was bet down to 3-to-5 after a troubled third in her debut. She trailed early after a bumpy start at 6F, made a quick 3-wide bid to engage the leaders nearing the turn, wore down the 2-1 favorite in mid-stretch and galloped out strongly. The daughter of multiple graded stakes-winning router Girvin should handle the added ground.
$2 Exacta-Thon Wagers: 7-ALL (Cost $20)
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