From the Spa: August July 20 Midlantic-breds in Saratoga stakes

I Spent It wins the 2014 Saratoga Special. Photo by NYRA/Adam Coglianese.

by Joseph Aiello

“From the Spa” returns to keep you up-to-date on horses bred in the mid-Atlantic racing in Saratoga stakes.

2018 Opening Day at the Spa is Friday, July 20th, which features two Grade 3 stakes races, the Schuylerville and the Lake George.

While the former does not include any Mid-Atlantic runners, the ninth race, the Lake George Stakes, features Daddy Is a Legend, who is the a 9/5 morning line favorite. Daddy Is a Legend was bred in Pennsylvania by HnR Nothhaft Horseracing. Having just run in the Grade III Wonder Again Stakes a month ago at a mile and an eighth, this three year old filly by Scat Daddy – Randie’s Legend, by Benchmark hopes that the slight distance cut to a mile and one sixteenth will help her make a stronger stretch run for owners Jim and Susan Hill.

Daddy Is a Legend has two wins in her career, both as a juvenile last year, including a score in the Grade 3 Jimmy Durante at Del Mar. This year she has a single third-place finish from three starts. While Daddy Is a Legend has yet to win a race this year, keeping Manny Franco in the irons for trainer George Weaver should give her as good a chance as any, as her morning line odds might indicate.