SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Dakota Gold and Coinage, the fifth- and ninth-place finishers in the controversial 2021 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, will square off again in a decidedly softer spot, against statebreds, in Thursday’s $125,000 Rick Violette Stakes at Saratoga. The Rick Violette, at 1 1/16 miles on turf, is being offered for 3-year-old New York-breds for the first time after having been carded for 2-year-olds during its first three renewals. Dakota Gold became the 5-2 favorite after Modern Games was erroneously scratched then permitted to run for purse money only in last year’s Juvenile Turf. After a long delay at the start, Dakota Gold finished 2 1/4 lengths behind Modern Games, after which he was given an extended vacation by trainer Danny Gargan. The son of Freud registered a hard-fought victory in the seven-furlong Spectacular Bid division of the New York Stallion Stakes when finally launching his 3-year-old campaign June 19 at Belmont Park. :: Get Saratoga Clocker Reports from Mike Welsch and the Clocker Team. Available every race day.   “We gave him a lot of time off after the Breeders’ Cup with our goal to get him ready for that last race at Belmont,” said Gargan, who trains Dakota Gold for Reeves Thoroughbred Racing. “He ran great that day and he’s trained extremely well since, so hopefully he runs as good over here on Thursday. He got a little flustered in the gate when everything happened before the start of the Breeders’ Cup, and I was worried for a moment he was going to get scratched. I thought without that and a little cleaner trip, he could have finished third, and I was very pleased and proud of him for his effort that day.” Gargan said he plans to keep Dakota Gold with New York-breds through the end of this meet before returning him to graded stakes competition later in the year. Coinage returns to statebred company for the first time since finishing third as a 2-year-old in the 2021 edition of the Rick Violette Stakes, run at six furlongs on dirt. He found his true niche shortly thereafter when he upset the Grade 3 With Anticipation in wire-to-wire fashion when making his turf debut here last September. Coinage, who forced the pace into the stretch before finishing nearly four lengths behind Dakota Gold in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, has started five times at 3. He won Gulfstream Park’s Palm Beach Stakes in March and was third in a pair of Grade 3 stakes. Both Practice Squad and Timbuktu figure to draw support. Practice Squad has hit the board in his last four starts, with the two most recent outings coming against open $50,000 starter-allowance opposition. Timbuktu was beaten a head going 1 1/8 miles for the first time in an entry-level allowance event for New York-breds while earning a career-best 78 Beyer Speed Figure last month at Belmont. That performance indicates further improvement should be expected in his stakes debut Thursday. Stop the Spread, Sundaeswithsandy, and Seaver are the outsiders in the lineup, while Compromiser has been entered for main track only.