With Anticipation looks like battle of impressive debut winners; $161K pick six carryover

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Good-looking debut winners Portfolio Company and Limited Liability head a field of seven 2-year-olds set to run 1 1/16 miles on turf in Wednesday’s Grade 3, $150,000 With Anticipation Stakes as Saratoga kicks off its eighth and final week of racing for the 2021 season.

The With Anticipation, which goes as race 9, is the fifth leg of a pick six sequence that begins the day with a $161,541 carryover after the wager went unhit Sunday.

Portfolio Company, a son of Kitten’s Joy, won his debut July 17 here by three-quarters of a length. In a race without much pace, Portfolio Company was a touch rank going into the first turn, ultimately stalked the speed from second, opened up a sizeable lead in midstretch, and held off a late run from James Aloysius for the victory. The two were nearly three lengths clear of the rest of the field.

“He’s a horse that’s really improved since his win,” said Chad Brown, who trains Portfolio Company for Seth Klarman. “He won nicely, workmanlike, got a lot out of it. His works have really stepped up since. I’ve really been impressed with this horse.”

Portfolio Company is a half-brother to Charming Kitten, who finished third in this race in 2012 coming off a debut victory for his trainer, Todd Pletcher.

Irad Ortiz Jr. rides Portfolio Company from post 4.

Limited Liability, a son of Kitten’s Joy, won his debut July 31, getting a dream trip down the backside before having to rally five wide in the stretch under Jose Ortiz for trainer Shug McGaughey and owner Stuart Janney III.

“I was very pleased with it,” McGaughey said. “He came out of it good, acts like the race helped him. He had a couple of good breezes since. This is a good spot for him. If he runs well, we’ll continue on.”

Pletcher has won six of the first 16 runnings of the With Anticipation, twice with maidens. Wednesday, he has entered the maiden Gooch Go Bragh, who finished second to the McGaughey-trained Dripping Gold in his debut here Aug. 7.

“He was a little green, but kept coming,” Pletcher said. “With the experience under his belt, hopefully he’ll move forward.”

Irad Ortiz Jr. rode Gooch Go Bragh on debut, but sticks with Portfolio Company on Wednesday. Luis Saez, the meet’s leading rider with 58 victories, picks up the mount on Gooch Go Bragh.

None of the remaining four entrants has tried the turf. Coinage, a New York-bred, is out of the dam Bar of Gold, who in 2017 – the same year she upset the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint – won the Yaddo Stakes over the Saratoga turf course.

James Chapman entered both Kavod and Ready to March. Kavod, by Lea, is out of a mare who went 1 for 8 on turf and whose siblings are a combined 1 for 23 on the grass. Ready to March, by Tom’s Ready, is out of the dam March On, a two-time turf sprint winner.

Silipo, claimed for $40,000 by Bruce Brown out of a debut win going 5 1/2 furlongs on dirt, rounds out the field.