Weekend Warrior for Saturday, Aug. 5: Picks for West Virginia Derby, De La Rose Stakes, Yellow Ribbon Handicap

NEW YORK – Another summer Saturday, another big card at Saratoga, where there is a Grade 1 stakes doubleheader consisting of the $1.2 million Whitney and the $500,000 Test. There also are three other stakes at Saratoga, most notably the Grade 3, $200,000 Waya.

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Del Mar offers a Grade 2 stakes doubleheader comprising the Yellow Ribbon and Sorrento, each worth $200,000. And Mountaineer Park has the second-richest race of the day, the Grade 3, $750,000 West Virginia Derby.

West Virginia Derby

The Mountaineer main track on the last few West Virginia Derby cards was so profoundly biased in favor of wide runners that it made the actual horses competing secondary to where the horses were racing. And while it remains to be seen if this powerful track bias will be in play Saturday, a review of race charts from recent Mountaineer cards would suggest that it still doesn’t hurt to be wide on that main track.

This is noted because the two favorites Saturday – Lookin At Lee, second in the Kentucky Derby and fourth in the Preakness, and Patch, third in the Belmont Stakes – have the kind of closing styles that would seem to fit a wide runner’s bias to a T.

The thing is, if horses with more positional speed than Lookin At Lee and Patch – which means almost everyone else in the field – are all occupying the preferred outside paths, it might leave the two favorites with no choice but to make their moves nearer the deeper inside. That could prove to be too much to overcome. And this doesn’t even address whether the jockeys will be cognizant of a Mountaineer track bias if one does indeed exist again Saturday. It is often disappointing how some riders are unaware even when big track biases are in play.

I like B Squared, whose third most recently in the Los Alamitos Derby was as good a performance as anything anyone else in this field has ever produced, and whose 96 Beyer Speed Figure for that effort is the highest in this field on a fast track.

I liked how B Squared rated kindly early in the Los Alamitos Derby before making a nice run to take a narrow lead in midstretch. He wound up finishing third, but he finished behind West Coast, who was winning his third straight and is Travers Stakes-bound, and Klimt, a Grade 1 stakes winner last year – a pair who are stronger than anyone B Squared meets Saturday.

While I hope B Squared rates as kindly as he did at Los Alamitos, he still has the positional speed to have his pick of where on the track he sets up shop. I’m hoping he picks a nice, cozy spot in the 5 path.

De La Rose Stakes

Sassy Little Lila was a narrowly beaten second in the Grade 1 Just a Game last time to the very talented Antonoe, so she obviously will take a lot of beating while dropping into this restricted stakes on the Saratoga card. That said, Sassy Little Lila had an easy time on the early lead in the Just a Game and when she won her first start this year, and I’m expecting her to see more early pace pressure this time.

Bar of Gold is my play. She made only the second turf start of her career last time and ran well, finishing second after making a strong wide move into the stretch, even if she was no match for Grand Jete, yet another Juddmonte/Chad Brown monster who is now 3 for 3 in the U.S.

Usually, when horses in the latter stages of their careers experiment with new surfaces like Bar of Gold is now doing, it is a sign of desperation, one last grab for glory. But that is not the case with Bar of Gold. She is out of a mare who was a graded stakes winner on turf, so she always had a license to be good on grass.

Yellow Ribbon Handicap

If Avenge is the same horse who won the Grade 1 Rodeo Drive and was an excellent third in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf last fall, she will win this race. But that’s an open question since she was empty in her one start this year two months ago.

I’ll go with Cambodia, whose win in the Gallorette two starts back was solid enough to give her an upset chance.