Saratoga Race Course Picks: Best Bets on Jim Dandy Day, 7/26/2025

Key Takeaways:

• Further Ado and Soldier N Diplomat both debut with strong connections and precocious pedigrees in Race 2.
• John the Baptist has sneaky upside on a class drop; Tarpaulin finds a softer spot with Ortiz up in Race 3.
• In the Lake George (Race 9), Play With Fire should benefit from a better trip this time, while Princess Attitude offers value stretching out.

The card on Saturday, July 26 at Saratoga features the Grade 2, $500,000 Jim Dandy Stakes, not only the local prep for the Grade 1 Travers Stakes four weeks later, but also one of the most eagerly-awaited events of the horse racing season in its own right. The 2024 Jim Dandy produced the next-out Travers winner, the champion Fierceness, so excitement would run high no matter who drew in. And, the field delivered—the race features the return of Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner Sovereignty, and he faces four other foes with proven graded-stakes class: Baeza, Hill Road, Mo Plex, and Sandman.

However, the Jim Dandy Stakes is not the only race on the card at Saratoga. Saturday features a full 12-race card, including one other graded-stakes event, the Lake George (G3) for sophomore filly turf routers. The card gets underway at 12:35 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, and you can watch and wager all day through FanDuel and FanDuel TV. You can also watch and wager on Del Mar and all the other racing going on nationwide through FanDuel.

Don’t forget to check the weather, track conditions, and scratches on race day before you place your bets. A few days out from the race, Saturday is expected to be clear, though with some rain in the forecast Friday and Sunday, there may be some changes closer to the time. So, make sure to verify the fields, pace setups, and class balances before making your wagers.

These are three best bets for undercard races on the Jim Dandy day card at Saratoga Race Course on Saturday, July 26:

Saratoga Race Course Best Bets

Race 2 - Maiden special weight for 2-year-olds, six furlongs on the dirt - Further Ado, Soldier N Diplomat

FanDuel odds: 5-2 and 8-5

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This 2-year-old main-track sprint on Saturday is a blank slate—none of the eight horses entered in the race have run yet. The dam of Further Ado (5-2) is well proven to produce precocious foals: three of her five starters have won first-time out, with two of those horses doing so as juveniles. Trainer Brad Cox is also elite with first-time starters: he is a 23% winner with debut runners in general, a 24% winner when those horses debut in maiden special weight, and even has a bit of a positive ROI over the last three years with those debut maiden special runners, a standout statistic given how often live Brad Cox horses get slammed at the windows. Of course, sire Gun Runner’s 16% first-timer win rate is another plus, as is the fact that Cox has been working this horse regularly since late May. The final work before the race was a half-mile maintenance drill, but the bullet gate work at Churchill Downs two back suggests he should be fast and well prepared. This all adds up to a horse who should run a good race on debut.

Another horse with a bright future ahead is Soldier N Diplomat (8-5), and it’s not just because of his $950,000 price tag at OBS back in March. His connections couldn’t be more appealing—trainer Steve Asmussen and jockey Jose Ortiz are both starting the Saratoga meet red hot. He has been training regularly for Asmussen since mid-May, including a final breeze in five furlongs over the Saratoga training track on July 14. It’s enough training to have him in good shape for this six-furlong race. The pedigree appeals for this, as well: Army Mule babies win 17% of the time first-out, and dam Diplomatic Miss has produced a second-out winner at age two, and is half to a debut juvenile winner.

Race 3 - $17,500 claiming, non-winners of two races lifetime, seven furlongs on the dirt - John the Baptist, Tarpaulin

FanDuel odds: 15-1 and 5-2

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The claiming races at Saratoga can be interesting because there are more class-droppers than usual. It’s a thing: horses taking a big class drop because it’s Saratoga: the pool of horses is deeper than at most meets, and connections often want to do whatever they can to get a win at the big summer meet. The main thing is to find a horse with enough upside, and stay away from horses who have had too many tries in similar races and don’t want to win.

John the Baptist (15-1) has run 12 times, making him one of the most experienced of the field—but only one of those races came on the dirt. That race, which came just two back, was a frontrunning maiden win going seven furlongs at Aqueduct. He was claimed for $20,000, ran off the board on the grass in a $35,000 N2L first off the claim (and first time against winners), and now drops in for $17,500, a perfectly logical level for a well-intentioned horse who broke his maiden for $20,000. Though he doesn’t yet know how dry dirt feels underneath his hooves on race day (his victory came on the slop), often the best way to win a claimer on the cheaper side is to take the lead and dare the rest to catch you. With aggressive Luis Saez in the irons, John the Baptist looks like the horse who can take the initiative.

Tarpaulin (5-2) hasn’t been in for a tag since his debut maiden victory going 6 ½ furlongs back in March, in a state-bred $30,000 maiden claimer. He has faced protected company in his next two starts, but after a fourth-place finish in an open starter allowance and then a troubled fifth in his last race against New York-bred allowance horses, he returns with his friends in the claiming ranks. Trainer Brittany Russell spots claiming horses well to win, and Tarpaulin also gets a switch to hot jockey Jose Ortiz riding. All in all, the changes make sense and, with only three lifetime starts, he has more upside than a horse who has had a ton of chances to win that second lifetime race.

Race 9 - Lake George Stakes (G3), 1 1/16 miles on the turf - Play With Fire, Princess Attitude

FanDuel odds: 4-1 and 15-1

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Play With Fire (4-1) is one of two entrants for trainer Chad Brown, who has won this race for 3-year-old fillies seven of the last ten years. She began her career in the Brendan Walsh barn, and proved herself a stakes-quality runner there with a late-running win in the Hilltop at Pimlico on Preakness Stakes weekend. In her first start for Brown, in the one-mile Wild Applause on July 3, she missed by half a length to Classic Q, who she faces again in this. However, that day she had to run down Classic Q after that one got it all her own way on the lead. This time around, there are a couple others in the field who could make her work for it. Play With Fire doesn’t have to drop that far off the pace though, especially over this slightly longer trip, and should get a clean outside run.

Another with some upside, and likely to be a price, is Princess Attitude (15-1). She has yet to break through at the stakes level, but hit the board in both the Hilltop and the Tepin at a flat mile in her last two starts. She has the tactical speed to get a tracking trip from a perfectly decent middle gate. And, though she has only stretched past a mile once, everything about her pedigree suggests she’s going to want to go this long—or even longer—eventually: after all, she is by Frankel out of Keertana, a classy, long-winded mare from an excellent family tree of turf stamina. Though trainer Victoria Oliver’s win rate in graded-stakes races gives some pause, she has been going well recently when putting Junior Alvarado in the irons, and the price should be good enough to bet on her pace capabilities, post position, and distance upside.

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