The Grade 2 Lake George for 3-year-old fillies, now slated to go off with a field of nine following the scratches of Celestine, Lady Zuzu, and My Year Is a Day, is an intriguing handicapping puzzle with plenty of room for argument.

The first graded stakes race of the 2015 Saratoga meeting comes early this year, with the Grade 3 Schuylerville being run Friday as the fourth race at 2:39 p.m. Eastern. The Schuylerville is the first of three graded stakes at the meeting for 2-year-old fillies, followed by the Grade 2 Adirondack on Aug. 15 and the Grade 1 Spinaway on Sept. 5.

I will be surprised if the Spinaway winner comes out of today’s field, in which no one has yet to run a Beyer Speed Figure higher than 70, unless someone takes a dramatic step forward today.

Jellicle Ball (#3, ML 10-1) makes her North American debut in Friday's ninth race at Saratoga, the Grade 2 Lake George Stakes on turf. Since Jan. 1, 2014, trainer Graham Motion is winning at a 33 percent clip with first-time North American starters, for a return on investment of $4.29.

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McMullen County (#2, ML 8-1) returns in Friday's eighth race at Ellis Park, a 1 1/16-mile allowance on turf. It will be his first start since finishing fifth by seven lengths in an allowance June 13 at Churchill Downs. The sixth- and seventh-place finishers from that race came back to win their next starts.

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Who says it never rains in Southern California?  Our top Pick last week, Kelly With a Twist, got sort of drowned in that crazy storm, coming in fourth to our basic second choice, Rockin’ Bayou, who paid $8.80.

Opportunities abound on the Opening Day card at Saratoga but I wanted to zero in on a mid-day pick three.

RACE 5: JEWELISA comes off a pair of good efforts and the Beyers she posted in those two races set her up nicely for this. She's the lone "A", with RACE AND SHINE (close-up fourth in her latest) and QUEENOFZEENILE (third in that same race) the back-ups, "B" plays on this ticket.

A's: 7

B's: 10, 11

I suspect many bettors analyzing Saturday’s Grade 2 San Diego Handicap at Del Mar will view Appealing Tale with a degree of skepticism, allowing him to go off as perhaps the fourth betting choice.

A quick glance at his past performances suggests that Appealing Tale is at a class disadvantage against the likes of Grade 1 winners Bayern and Hoppertunity, as well as Catch a Flight, a Grade 2 winner in the United States with two Grade 1 placings. And then there is the issue of the 1 1/16-mile distance of the San Diego, which seems a sixteenth of a mile beyond his best distance.

I’m going to start out by pairing up horses in each of the first three races, both in exacta boxes and as part of rolling pick-3s (R1-3 and R2-4):

Race 1
RUSH OF DAY (1) drops for Spendthrift and Gary Stute; lurks from rail. JAZZED (2) still seems a worthwhile claim and also seems well spotted when going turf to dirt.

The twilight card Friday at Del Mar begins at 4 p.m. Pacific; a small pick three ($12) on races 2-4 is the bet. It starts with a solid favorite, followed by 2-year-old maidens with a vulnerable favorite, and ends with overlay chances in a turf route.

Race 2

CHIEF OF STAFF (2) stands out in this Cal-bred first-level allowance at one mile. Runner-up at this level in a fast race two back, he subsequently finished seventh on turf. Freshened two months with speed for a good trip positioned second, the favorite enters without a knock.

If every horse were like Sheer Drama, this game would be quite a bit more predictable. The 5-year-old Sheer Drama entered last Saturday’s Delaware Handicap with recent Beyer Speed Figures of 91, 99, 93, and 94, a series of top performances that none of her six rivals could match. She won the Delaware Handicap convincingly with a 97 Beyer. Interestingly, Rosalind, who had never hit 90 on the Beyer scale, was favored, obviously due to the Chad Brown factor. As hot as Brown has been, even he could not beat the figures.