SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – With the exception of last year, the Whitney has been a pretty special race for trainer Todd Pletcher.

Pletcher hopes to create another memorable moment Saturday when he sends out Mission Impazible against 10 rivals in a stellar renewal of the Grade 1, $750,000 Whitney Handicap Invitational, which tops an 11-race card at Saratoga that also includes the Grade 1 Test Stakes for 3-year-old fillies.

BREEDERS' CUP CHALLENGE: Racing schedule, replays, and past winners »

Handicappers and prospective buyers have a lot to think about with Salt Flat Speed dropping in for a tag at Northlands Park for the first time since he won a $20,000 claiming race by 4 1/4 lengths on July 31, 2009.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - Trainer Bruce Alexander hopes to keep the positive momentum rolling into the Friday card at Monmouth Park as racing resumes following Haskell Day.

Alexander saddled three horses Sunday on the Haskell undercard and came away with two allowance winners, Seventy Niner and Tune Me In, while Moonhanger ran third in the Jersey Derby.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - After watching Uncle Mo breeze five furlongs Wednesday morning at Saratoga, trainer Todd Pletcher said last year’s 2-year-old champion is “on target” to make the Grade 1, $250,000 King’s Bishop here on Aug. 27.

Welcome to Spa Babies! I'll break down the statistics for every juvenile contest at the meet and hope for a tidy profit.

In past years, I would list the stats for each horse before writing up my analysis, selections and wagering strategy.
In order to streamline the content, this year's Spa Babies will showcase written analyses of each juvenile race.  Each analysis will include relevant statistical information.  Following the analysis, top three selections and wagering strategy will be provided.

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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - That sigh of relief heard around the barn area over the weekend came from trainer Tom Bush, who reports that his multiple Grade 1 winner Get Stormy appears to be recuperating nicely after suffering a minor tendon injury last week that kept him out of Sunday's Grade 2 Fourstardave.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - D. Wayne Lukas, a six-time leading trainer at Saratoga, is off to a 0-for-23 start at this year’s meet. The horse who may have run the best for him thus far is Hamazing Destiny, who came off an eight-month layoff to run second behind Jackson Bend in the James Marvin Stakes on opening day.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer Donnie Von Hemel summed up the first 10 days of his 2011 Saratoga experience thusly: “The highs and lows of racing, I suppose.”

The high came Monday when Caleb’s Posse exploded down the stretch to win the Grade 2, $150,000 Amsterdam Stakes by four lengths. He ran 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:15.88 and earned a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 105.

The low was Alienation’s fourth-place finish in Saturday’s Grade 2 Jim Dandy, a race he had been pointing the 3-year-old to since winning the Peter Pan in May.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Rail Trip will be the last horse to arrive on the grounds for Saturday’s $750,000 Whitney Handicap but trainer Rick Dutrow Jr. is confident he can be the first across the finish line in the Grade 1 event.

Rail Trip has pretty much been out of sight and out of mind of late, with Dutrow choosing to prepare him for the Whitney in relative anonymity at Aqueduct, where he was scheduled to have a final half-mile blowout for the race on Wednesday. Rail Trip will make the four-hour van ride up to Saratoga on Thursday.

AUBURN, Wash. – Snake Attack, Highdleburg, and A K Racer, who finished within a half-length of each other when they last met, will knock heads again Thursday in the feature race at Emerald Downs. The eight-race card begins at 6:15 p.m. Pacific, and the feature, a $7,500 claimer for older horses at six furlongs, is the seventh race.