The richest Whitney Handicap ever ...... with a possible Horse of the Year candidate

Every so often, a good horse comes around at the right time. And it so happens that the right time is during one of the biggest racing days at the best track in the country. The new re-tooled Whitney Stakes day has five great stakes races and one of them showcase's the best horse in training.

NYRA has had the knack of creating showcase days with several stake races assembled on one race card. Today we have such a day with the main event being a race for older handicap division. The Whitney Stakes is historical in itself with rich tradition throughout the years. But this year it's rich in value too. It has become the biggest purse race at Saratoga during the 40 day meet this year. With this year's edition, the best current horse in training headlines today's race. He's no stranger to Saratoga and keeps improving from his three year old season of last year, to his form this year.

Palace Malice has captured the spirit of the handicap dirt division with four straight graded stakes victories, at three different venues. Last year's Belmont Stakes and Jim Dandy winner has been better than ever this year. Winning his seasonal debut at Gulfstream Park early in March, he then shipped to the Fairgrounds and won their top handicap race, the New Orleans Handicap impressively with a career best Beyer speed number of 114. It was then on to Belmont Park where he won two one-turn mile races, including the grade I ~ Metropolitan Mile on the Belmont Stakes under card. Today he faces eight rivals which include last year's Travers winner and Breeder's Cup runner-up ;Will Take Charge, Itsmyluckyday winner of three straight races, dead heat co-winner of the 2012 Travers; Golden Ticket and five other worthy handicap opponents.

There are only a few named horses missing from this cast today. But, Palace Malice is head and shoulders the "horse to beat" today. He reminds me of the top older handicap horses of the mid 90's who improved during their three year old season and got even better versus older foes the following year. While many fans of the sport enjoy the Triple Crown races, it's the older handicap ranks that have a major impact on the Breeder's Cup Classic in the Fall. Today, in the rich tradition race we see the "best" horse in training show his stuff and make a statement in the thoroughbred world.

With a third of the meet in the books, the weather the past week has played a factor in the racing with sudden downpours causing turf races to be taken off the grass. The racing office has not hesitated switching these races to the main track. Safety is always a priority when it comes to the horses and jockeys when inclement weather arises. But if that weather arrives after wagering has begun at noon, bets that were made could be affected. In most cases, off-the-turf events will be scratched horses. That's not a problem with most types of wagering. But in the pick 4 and pick 5 wagers and your horse is scratched, you get the post time favorite and no refund. This is a problem to me. If you wager early on the pick 4 in the 2nd race and the weather forces the race off the turf and horses are late scratches, you should receive a refund. I've made plays before the early pick 4 and a storm rolled into Saratoga taking races off the turf that were in the sequence and unfortunately I had a "dead" ticket before the first race in the leg was run. If you can have refunds on most other wagers, the same can be made for the multi-race wagers. It's only right.