clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Whitney 2013: Weekend Open Thread

It's Whitney Day at Saratoga which means a bit of national coverage on the TV.

Fort Larned and Brian Hernandez, Jr.seek another win in the Whitney at Saratoga.
Fort Larned and Brian Hernandez, Jr.seek another win in the Whitney at Saratoga.
Jeff Gross

This weekend's stakes calendar is a bit lighter than last weekend's but the feature race, the Whitney, provides us with a great look at some of the top older males in the country. Today's Whitney Invitational at Saratoga will be broadcast on NBC with coverage beginning at 5:00 p.m. Eastern and post time scheduled for 5:45. (Read below for another wonderful post time conflict.)

Out at where the turf meets the surf, Del Mar features the Grade 1 Clement L. Hirsch at a mile and a sixteenth on the Polytrack. Include Me Out, the 7/5 morning line favorite, is back to defend her title against a field of eight rivals. Byrama (GB) is among the challengers and, hey!, look at the pedigree profile from Tribe on Byrama! The Hirsch will head to post at 8:45 eastern, 5:45 for us out here on the West Coast.

Not to be forgotten is tonight's Grade 2 West Virginia Derby at Mountaineer Park in, well, West Virginia. A good field of nine will load into the gate, let by a couple of holdovers from this spring's Triple Crown races. Arkansas Derby winner Overanalyze is your 7/5 morning line favorite while Illinois Derby winner Departing (7/2) looks to bounce back from a disappointing Preakness run back in mid-May.

Post time for the West Virginia Derby is 5:45 p.m. Eastern which is the... exact.... same.... time... as the Whitney. Guys? Really? An hour earlier or an hour later would probably work just a tad better.

Scratches and Changes via Equibase

Saratoga - Scratches / Changes
Del Mar - Scratches / Changes
Mountaineer - Scratches / Changes