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Opening Weekend at Saratoga to Celebrate America 250

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A full slate of entertainment and family-friendly events are set for the July 4th Racing Festival, which will be held Friday, July 3 through Sunday, July 5, and serve as Opening Weekend of the summer meet at Saratoga Race Course, the New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) announced Thursday.

Saratoga’s Opening Weekend festivities will align with the nationwide celebration commemorating the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States.

“Opening Weekend at Saratoga Race Course is one of the most anticipated events of the summer in New York, and this year provides a special opportunity to celebrate both the return of the summer racing season and the 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding,” said Dave O’Rourke, NYRA President and CEO. “We look forward to welcoming back fans to one of America’s most revered sports venues during a festive and family-friendly July 4th holiday weekend.”

Headlined by the GI Belmont Derby and GI Belmont Oaks on Independence Day, the July 4th Racing Festival will include six graded events among 10 stakes races held over three days of competition.

For more information about Saratoga Race Course and the 2026 Saratoga Summer Meet, visit NYRA.com/Saratoga.

The post Opening Weekend at Saratoga to Celebrate America 250 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Dry Powder Preps For Pitcher In Lady’s Secret

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Gold Square LLC’s Dry Powder (Gun Runner), twice placed at the highest level during a productive 3-year-old season in 2025, drops out of graded company for Sunday’s $100,000 Lady’s Secret Stakes at Monmouth Park, the final local lead-up for the $500,000 GII Molly Pitcher Stakes on the Haskell undercard on July 18.

Third in the GI CCA Oaks and a neck second in the GI Cotillion Stakes either side of a victory in the Cathryn Sophia Stakes at Parx last season, the $525,000 Keeneland September graduate–carrying the same colors worn by GI Preakness Stakes hero Napoleon Solo (Liam’s Map)–was a runaway winner of a one-mile Gulfstream allowance Mar. 12, but never landed a blow when off the board in the GI La Troienne Stakes May 1 and in the GII Ruffian Stakes just eight days hence.

“With the money we spent on her as a yearling, there are expectations of being a Saturday afternoon horse when you put on the black and gold (silks),” said trainer Chad Summers, who has the Preakness winner pointed toward the Haskell the same afternoon as the Molly Pitcher. “We feel she’s a graded stakes filly. Ultimately, that’s the goal for this year–to get that graded stakes win.

“Since she is doing so well we thought this was a race that makes sense since we’re looking at the Molly Pitcher on Haskell day.”

The bay filly has worked three times since the Ruffian, including an easy half-mile in :49 flat (24/61) at Belmont Prk June 11.

“She is doing super,” said Summers. “We were excited when she won the race at Gulfstream the way she did. We took a swing in a Grade I after that. She just kind of got lost going into the first turn and ended up in no-man’s land. She ran a little flat.

“But when she came out of the race she didn’t even need any water afterward. So we did something a little unusual. We ran her back in eight days in the Ruffian. She ran good that day. The winner (Irish Maxima) was awesome. She ran everyone off their feet.”

Dry Powder has amassed a record of 3-3-2 from 11 starts for earnings to date of $543,400.

The post Dry Powder Preps For Pitcher In Lady’s Secret appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Opening Weekend at Saratoga to Celebrate America 250

---

A full slate of entertainment and family-friendly events are set for the July 4th Racing Festival, which will be held Friday, July 3 through Sunday, July 5, and serve as Opening Weekend of the summer meet at Saratoga Race Course, the New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) announced Thursday.

Saratoga’s Opening Weekend festivities will align with the nationwide celebration commemorating the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States.

“Opening Weekend at Saratoga Race Course is one of the most anticipated events of the summer in New York, and this year provides a special opportunity to celebrate both the return of the summer racing season and the 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding,” said Dave O’Rourke, NYRA President and CEO. “We look forward to welcoming back fans to one of America’s most revered sports venues during a festive and family-friendly July 4th holiday weekend.”

Headlined by the GI Belmont Derby and GI Belmont Oaks on Independence Day, the July 4th Racing Festival will include six graded events among 10 stakes races held over three days of competition.

For more information about Saratoga Race Course and the 2026 Saratoga Summer Meet, visit NYRA.com/Saratoga.

The post Opening Weekend at Saratoga to Celebrate America 250 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Dry Powder Preps For Pitcher In Lady’s Secret

---

Gold Square LLC’s Dry Powder (Gun Runner), twice placed at the highest level during a productive 3-year-old season in 2025, drops out of graded company for Sunday’s $100,000 Lady’s Secret Stakes at Monmouth Park, the final local lead-up for the $500,000 GII Molly Pitcher Stakes on the Haskell undercard on July 18.

Third in the GI CCA Oaks and a neck second in the GI Cotillion Stakes either side of a victory in the Cathryn Sophia Stakes at Parx last season, the $525,000 Keeneland September graduate–carrying the same colors worn by GI Preakness Stakes hero Napoleon Solo (Liam’s Map)–was a runaway winner of a one-mile Gulfstream allowance Mar. 12, but never landed a blow when off the board in the GI La Troienne Stakes May 1 and in the GII Ruffian Stakes just eight days hence.

“With the money we spent on her as a yearling, there are expectations of being a Saturday afternoon horse when you put on the black and gold (silks),” said trainer Chad Summers, who has the Preakness winner pointed toward the Haskell the same afternoon as the Molly Pitcher. “We feel she’s a graded stakes filly. Ultimately, that’s the goal for this year–to get that graded stakes win.

“Since she is doing so well we thought this was a race that makes sense since we’re looking at the Molly Pitcher on Haskell day.”

The bay filly has worked three times since the Ruffian, including an easy half-mile in :49 flat (24/61) at Belmont Prk June 11.

“She is doing super,” said Summers. “We were excited when she won the race at Gulfstream the way she did. We took a swing in a Grade I after that. She just kind of got lost going into the first turn and ended up in no-man’s land. She ran a little flat.

“But when she came out of the race she didn’t even need any water afterward. So we did something a little unusual. We ran her back in eight days in the Ruffian. She ran good that day. The winner (Irish Maxima) was awesome. She ran everyone off their feet.”

Dry Powder has amassed a record of 3-3-2 from 11 starts for earnings to date of $543,400.

The post Dry Powder Preps For Pitcher In Lady’s Secret appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.