The Spa Spot: Morning Breeze
The second Sunday of the 2012 season brings us the first giveaway day and the $200,000 Amsterdam as the feature event of an 11-race program. The first post is 1 p.m.
- Saratoga Springs native Terri Pompay provided one of the feel-good stories of the 2011 Spa season when she won the historic Hopeful Stakes with Currency Swap on Labor Day. Pompay and Currency Swap return today for the Grade 2 Amsterdam, which usually produces some starters for the Grade 1 King's Bishop on Travers Day. Currency Swap faces six other 3-year-old sprinters in the Amsterdam, the 10th race of the day.
- Preceding the Amsterdam is the $100,000 Nani Rose, a one-mile test for 3-year-old fillies on the inner turf course. The field includes the Alaura Michele, who won the P.G. Johnson at Saratoga last season and is making her first start since losing as the favorite in the Grade 3 Miss Grillo in October.
- Alaura Michele is trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott. That is noteworthy because Mott turns 59 today and he often wins races on his birthday. According to NYRA, a $2 win bet placed on each of Mott’s starters on July 29 since 2006 would have yielded a profit of $33.70. He has four horses entered this afternoon.
- The first or four merchandise giveaways is today. There will be thousands of red hats on the heads of patrons when the gates open for the first race, a state-bred allowance.