Saratoga Wednesday

- In the third, Queenofalldiamonds (7-2) stretches back out to a mile and a sixteenth for Frankel, 7-3-1-1 on the meeting thus far. She rallied from far back, and was very wide on the turn when second in her last, at seven furlongs. She appeared to brush with eventual winner (and LATG selection) Unique Citizen turning for home, and I thought she was a little green in the stretch. She finished well for second though, and I think she'll love the distance. She debuted in a route, showed speed and faded to sixth, but I'm looking for Johnny V to adopt the rating tactics of the wayward Garrett Gomez. This is a $2.7 million daughter of Kingmambo out of the Distaff winner Escena (a half to Showlady, who won the G3 Boiling Springs on the turf at this distance). Tough post, but two of the three main contenders are out there too. Kapanga (4-1) had a little traffic trouble when saving ground in her last, at this distance, and should be saving ground from the two post as the others jockey for position.

- The 5th is a grassy state-bred juvenile sprint, and no pick here. Dougie (3-1) doesn't look like a NY-bred upon first look at the pedigree - Elusive Quality out of a Deputy Minister mare. But that dam is named I Love New York after all, and she's a half-sister to the NY-bred Florida Deby winner and current rookie sire Friends Lake. The stallion, by AP Indy, has two winners thus far, including the Bashford Manor winner Screen Your Friends. The Toddster has shown signs of 2 yo life, and here he debuts Double Domino (7-2). He's by Stormy Atlantic, out of a mare by Wild Zone (Wild Again), and sports a Tomlinson number of 358. Linda Rice debuts Ziptronic (6-1) (City Zip); the trainer won with two firsters on the grass here last year.

No selection in the featured 9th, the state-bred Fleet Indian, either. But I find it of interest because, as a NY-bred sprint for fillies and mares 3yo and up, it's the kind of company that Just Zip It will be facing, we hope, on Aug 18, albeit at a furlong shorter, as she prefers. Bill Turner wanted to give her a race on Monday, but the six furlong, open company NW2 other than allowance race for the abovementioned age and sex drew only two horses total! So unfortunately, she'll have to wait unless a suitable extra pops up very soon. She hasn't raced since June 4 and she's reportedly rarin' to go. If the company is anything like that in the Fleet Indian, I don't see why she couldn't hold her own at least.

In the 10th, Bruce Brown drops Sapphire Eyes (5-1) back to his claim level in this bottom basement maiden claimer. Brown has displayed his sharp downstate form early in this meeting. This son of E Dubai, out of $130,000 earner She's Academic, a half to the multiple graded winner It's Academic, was a close third at a mile when Brown claimed him, and returns to dirt after an OK third against better on the grass. Nice half mile tuneup for this the other day. Cut back to six is a question mark, but he certainly fits on class. Valiant Humor (9-2) similarly drops, and ran within a length of the choice when they met in the spring.