11:41 Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets (Grade 1) (VirginTwo)

SARATOGA has been the saviour of US racing over the last few years with attendance and betting all coming up with strong figures.

This season it hosts the Belmont Stakes and the feature race is one to saviour with coverage from 9pm on VirginMedia Two this evening.

Run here over a shorter mile and a quarter distance, the Belmont is the first three-year-old showdown of the summer with the Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan taking on the Preakness winner Seize The Grey who beat him by two and a quarter lengths on the wet Pimlico track three weeks ago.

Mysik Dan only held on to the Derby by a nose and the second horse there, Sierra Leone, had wavered off a straight line in battling with the third.

So three of the top colts face off again and with Sierra Leone having missed the Preakness, he should be much fresher and has Flavien Prat replacing Tyler Gafflione. That, combined with earlier wins in the Blue Grass Stakes and the Risen Star, see him put in as favourite this evening. While he doesn’t make things easy for himself in hanging in, the longer weeks’ rest could prove the key.

Seize The Grey also ran on Kentucky Derby day. Drawn one, Seize The Grey can again use his early speed while stall three gives Mystik Dan a good stalking position.

Seize The Grey wasn’t stopping at the end of the Preakness and his odds look too big.

Resilience was beaten seven and three-quarter lengths in the Derby and could figure here too.

Honor Marie got no run in the Derby when bumped numerous times between horses and squeezed out early. His eighth-place finish was a good run in the circumstances.

The dark horse is Todd Pletcher’s Mindframe, a son of Constitution for Repole Stable and St Elias Stable, impressive winner of his only two runs. Mike Repole was typically bold this week saying: “We have the two-year-old champ in Fierceness and then there’s a horse like Mindframe and by Saturday he might be the best horse in the crop. He’s 2-for-2 and the way he won both was incredible.” Trainer Todd Pletcher was also positive on Bloodhorse - “We wouldn’t be trying this if we didn’t think he was capable.”

SELECTION: Sierra Leone

Next Best: Seize The Grey

Rest of the card

Nations Pride can prosper and take another Grade 1

THE rest of the card is a cracker with graded action begining at 5.31pm with the six and a half-furlong Grade 2 True North Stakes where the Steve Asmussen-trained Gun Pilot is a short-priced favourite to follow up his Grade 1 Churchill Downs Stakes win.

The Grade 3 Poker Stakes over a turf mile features European interest with Charlie Appleby’s Mysterious Night, the mount of William Buick, taking on Saratoga star, the eight-year-old Casa Creed, winner of the Grade 1 Fourstarsdave Stakes here for the last two seasons.

The Godolphin four-year-old had two Meydan wins before disappointing in the seven-furlong Saudi National Bank 1351 Turf Sprint in Riyadh in February.

Carl Spackler, a son of Lope De Vega from the Chad Brown barn, looks the best option off his last three wins, two of which were at Saratoga last summer. He beat his rival here Talk Of The Nation on his Churchill Downs return last month.

Todd Pletcher’s five-year-old Charge It looks the one in the Grade 2 Suburban Stakes with Pletcher also saddling the second favourite Crupi. Bendoog, another son of Gun Runner, has won his last two for Bill Mott including a four length win last time. He was sixth earlier in the Dubai World Cup for Buphat Seemar.

The Grade 1 Ogden Phipps Stakes Presented by Ford features one of the top horses in the US. Chasing her fifth Grade 1 in a row, Juddmonte’s Idiomatic is on a run of six wins, the last four being Grade 1 wins.

Brendan Walsh’s Kentucky Oaks winner Pretty Mischievous had two more Grade 1 wins to her name last year and should give her a good test but was over five lengths behind Idiomatic in the Grade 1 La Troienne Stakes on a sloppy track at Churchill Downs last time.

The Grade 1 Woody Stephens Stakes is a three-year-old seven-furlong dirt contest and Bob Baffert’s Prince Of Monaco reappears. He was one of the best two-year-old on the west coast last season winning the Grade 1 Runhappy Del Mar Futurity.

The five and a half-furlong Grade 1 Jaipur Stakes (9.08pm) on turf has two Appleby runners in the three-year-old filly Star Of Mystery (Flavien Prat) and the four-year-old Mischief Magic (William Buick). Steve Assmussen supplies the favourite again in Churchill Downs Grade 2 winner Cogburn.

Tasty appetiser

At 9:52pm the Grade 1 Hill ‘N’ Dale Metropolitan Handicap over the dirt mile provides a tasty appetiser to the main event, featuring the reappearance of the 2023 Horse of the Year White Abarrio. In opposition is the Bob Baffert-trained National Treasure, the 2023 Preakness winner and successful in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes this spring. Brittany Russell’s Post Time looks the other to consider off wins in the spring. White Abarrio must bounce back from a poor run in the Group 1 Saudi Cup where National Treasure was fourth. This might be the day to side with the Baffert runner.

Irish interest comes in the Grade 1 Resorts World Casino Manhattan Stakes (10.36pm) with Al Riffa representing Joseph O’Brien, the mount of John Velazquez. He doesn’t look quite good enough on recent form, though he does receive a handy 6lb.

Charlie Appleby runs Nations Pride (Dettori) and Measured Time (Buick). Another son of Lope De Vega, Program Trading looks the solid favourite but Nations Pride could be the value bet, as he should step up from his first run of the season in the Grade 2 Man O War Stakes at Aqueduct in mid-May. Measured Time’s fourth in the Dubai Turf is also a high level of form.