The pick below is yours free from the Wizard.
Saratoga
Race 8 Post time 4:29 ET
(1) SCARLET POPPY (Weslery Ward, Flavian Prat)
Breaking from post 1 today, this filly is expected to shoot right to the lead, then prove tough to pass all the way around as she makes her third career start, and second off a 2.5-month layoff. There’s other speed to her outside, so she might get pace pressure, but her early pace figures are the best in this field, and top turf rider Flavien Prat got to know her last time out when she pressed the pace going 6F and held well for 2nd at this class level. This shorter trip will help, and she has the breeding to be a good one, as 6 of her 7 siblings to race on turf won over it, and 3 of them were stakes winners, including two Group 3 turf winners in France. Trainer Wesley Ward is among the best anywhere with turf sprinters, and he’s also won 34% second start off similar layoffs in 2023-24. Since the good return race on June 28, Scarlet Poppy has put in two more blazing turf works here at Saratoga, and she appears primed for a nice forward move today for top international owner connections.