Amwager.com has a takeout promotion on Saturday on win bets at Saratoga.
Diana Stakes (Grade 1)- Race 5 at Saratoga – Post Time 2:46 PM Eastern
Top Win Contender: Ozara, Portfolio Duration, Dynamic Pricing
Although trainer Chad Brown has four horses in this race and has won nine of the last 10 years of the Diana, Ozara is the top contender, and Brown does not train her. Ozara won all three of her races at Saratoga, including the Grade 2 Ballston Spa Stakes last August and also won the De La Rose Stakes last July. Those were her best career efforts, in which she earned Equibase Speed Figures of 107 and 113. No horse in this field, running in the U.S., has run faster than Ozara, not even Portfolio Duration (105), Dynamic Pricing (107), or Segesta (110). Only Cathedral earned a better figure when she earned a 123 figure when she finished second in the Dahlia Stakes on March 28 in England, but in her latest race she finished seventh.
Before her first race of this year, Ozara was off for six months, then came back to win the Miss Liberty Stakes in May. Then in her second race of the year, she raced at Woodbine, where she had never run before. She was bumped at the start, getting away ninth, and falling to 11th. She passed a few horses and finished sixth. The key is that now she is back at Saratoga, where she has a good shot to rebound to earn her ninth career win in her 18th race.
Portfolio Duration and Dynamic Pricing are both owned by Klaravich Stables and trained by Brown, so one may be scratched. Portfolio Duration has won three of five races and finished second in the others. She led the New York Stakes at Saratoga wire to wire in her last race on June 5, where she barely won by a head and earned a 99 figure. Before that, in the Distaff Turf Mile, she rallied from fifth to miss by a neck, earning a 105 figure.
Dynamic Pricing won three of five races in 2025, including the Just A Game Stakes in June at Saratoga, earning her career best figure of 107. However, after that, she finished third in the Diana while not a contender. She won the non-graded Perfect Sting Stakes in August, then finished seventh in the First Lady Stakes in October. She took time off from October to April, and in her two races this year, she finished fourth in the Jenny Wiley Stakes (101), then second in the Beaugay Stakes (that she won last year) with a 102 figure.
Handicapper Picks
Win bets: Ozara at 2 to 1 or higher.
Exactas: Box Ozara and Portfolio Duration
If Portfolio Duration is scratched, play the box of Ozara, Dynamic Pricing
Double, Pick 3, Pick 5
Race 5: Ozara, Portfolio Duration
Race 6: Agoo
Race 7: Effusive, Elevated
Race 8: Cy Fair
Race 9: All 10
Cost (at $0.50): $20
Race 6 at Saratoga – Post Time 3:21 PM Eastern
Top Win Contender: Agoo
Agoo has been away for more than 18 months, but I’m not concerned. He finished second in his debut, stalking in third, then making the front and just being beaten. He won his second race, then finished second and third in a pair of stakes. He finished poorly three times from February through September 2024. He was gelded before winning by a neck in September 2024, earning a career-best 94 Equibase Speed Figure, then being beaten by a neck and earning a 96 Equibase Speed Figure in October of his three-year-old year. John Velazquez rides, and his trainer, Whitworth, has an amazing record of five out of 12 winners when horses come off layoffs of six months or longer. Although Agoo has been away, his workouts say he is ready, and his most recent workout was seventh of 148 (:48 flat for four furlongs). No other horse in this field has run faster than the 96 figure, except Caldo Candy, who also earned his best effort in 2024, but he just finished eighth, beaten by 12 lengths.
Handicapper Picks
Win bets: Agoo at 5 to 2 or higher.
Race 7 at Saratoga – Post Time 3:54 PM Eastern
Top Win Contender(s): Effusive
Other contender: Elevated
Effusive is a first-timer with the ability to win her first race. She is by one of the best sires of the generation, Into Mischief, but it’s her dam who is the reason she is going to be an exceptionally good filly. She is out of Monomoy Girl, who won 14-3-0 in 17 races and earned $4.7 million. Monomoy Girl has produced only one other horse who won at this six-furlong trip and then finished third in a stakes race. Effusive is bred by her owner, who also owns Monomoy Girl, and was trained by Brad Cox, who is also the trainer of Effusive. Effusive has put in reliable workouts since May, including a fast 47.2 (fourth of 67). Cox had a 7-3-1 record in 19 starts over the previous three years at Saratoga in this class and at six furlongs. The filly gets Manny Franco, who won three of those seven winners (from just five starts).
One other horse I have my eye on is Elevated. This filly is by a first-crop sire, Flightline, who was unbeaten in six races, including the Breeders’ Cup Classic in 2022, and earned $4.5 million. Flightline has had five horses start to date with a record of 1-1-3. Elevated is trained by Bill Mott, who doesn’t have the same statistics as Cox, but does win with first-timers and good fillies, including Just FYI, who won 3-3-0 and $1.7 million, and Scylla, 6-5-3 and $2.8 million. This filly put in an exceptionally good workout on July 9 at Saratoga, 48 flat for four furlongs, the best of 25 that day.
Handicapper Picks
Win bets: Effusive at 9 to 5 or higher.
Elevated at 4 to 1 or higher.
Coronation Cup – Race 8 at Saratoga – Post Time 4:29 PM Eastern
Top Win Contender: Cy Fair
Cy Fair is a three-year-old filly who won four of six races. She won her career debut at Saratoga over this distance, five and one-half furlongs on turf, then missed by a neck in the Bolton Landing Stakes (also at Saratoga) last August. She won the Algonquin Stakes, beating males. Then she won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint, in a field of 12, where she beat several, mostly male European entries, earning a superb 118 Equibase Speed Figure. Three of those have won stakes since then, two in Group 1 races.
Cy Fair took the rest of the fall off and started her 2026 campaign when she wasn’t 100% fit and finished third, but she still earned a 108 figure. In her second race this year, she won the Mamzelle Stakes powerfully, earning her second-best 112 figure. She is going to run even better and is likely to win her next as well to run in this year’s Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint. She is going to win, but her odds will be under even money.
Handicapper Picks
Win bets: Cy Fair at 3 to 5 or higher.
However, even if her odds are 3 to 5 or higher, we benefit from the takeout promotion (+.19%) on Amwager. For example, if we bet $50 and she wins at 3 to 5, we receive ($70 + $15 = $85), which is almost 4 to 5.