If you are a racing fan and you are not ready for the Saratoga Race Course meet, it might be time to check your pulse because Saratoga is the summer place to be for handicappers and horse racing aficionados. The highly anticipated 40-day Saratoga racing season lasts throughout the heart of the summer starting July 10, running five days a week Wednesdays through Sundays until Labor Day, Sept. 1.

The 2025 Saratoga meet will feature 64 stakes races worth more than $20 million in purses highlighted by DraftKings Travers Stakes Day set for Saturday, August 23. Saratoga is not only about high-profile horses and stakes races, because the daily racing and wagering also is as good as it gets. The good news for horseplayers is that so many novices will be pumping so much money into the betting pools during the season that opportunities always abound for more avid handicappers to cash value bets over the course of the meet. Here are some tips and trends to give you the edge on the betting public all summer at Saratoga.

Saratoga Main Track Trends

“And they’re off!” at the Spa. (Eclipse Sportswire)

You must factor early speed into your dirt sprint handicapping at Saratoga or else you are doomed. Let’s start with dirt sprints when looking for a winning track profile at Saratoga.

The Spa’s main track is speed-favoring at all dirt sprint distances. A total of 159 dirt sprints were run at Saratoga last summer, and horses with early speed on the pace or within a length of the lead won 83 of those 159 sprints for 52%. The track was even more speed-favoring in 2023 when speed horses won 58% of the sprints. Conversely, closers coming from four or more lengths off the pace won only 12 of the 159 dirt sprints to account for just 8% of the total winners. When considering post positions, the three inside posts were the most productive in dirt sprints in 2024, but the bias was not substantial.

In Saratoga dirt routes including those held at one mile, there were a total of 98 races run at the 2024 summer meet. The inside post-position advantage mattered much more in routes than in sprints, as you might expect. Horses from the three inside posts won 54 of the 98 races to account for 55% of all winners. Just like in dirt sprints, it pays to have early speed in Saratoga dirt routes. Horses on or close to the pace won 47 of the 98 dirt routes in 2024 (48%). This was actually down from the 2022-23 meets when speed horses won 52% of the dirt routes. The worst running style in these races has been closers. Horses from four-plus lengths off the pace won only 13 of the 98 (13%) dirt routes in 2024, which jibed with the stats from 2022-23 when there were 21 closing dirt route winners in 182 races (12%).

Saratoga Turf Tips

Heading for home on Saratoga’s inner turf course. (Eclipse Sportswire)

Spa turf sprints, which are all run at 5 ½ furlongs, are a big part of racing and wagering at Saratoga with an average of between one or two turf sprints carded per day. In Saratoga’s turf sprints, downgrade the three inside posts – particularly the rail – in large fields with more than eight horses. When you see horses in these races with numbers like 9-10-11, upgrade those horses. Inside posts can have success in smaller turf sprint fields, but the inside posts have always under-performed in big fields for more than two decades of turf sprint racing at Saratoga.

All types of running styles have a fair chance to win Saratoga turf sprints, but the best running style in 2024 was early speedsters, who won 20 of the 47 turf sprints for 43%. The two prior years in 2022-23, stalkers coming from between one and four lengths off the pace did the best with 58 wins in 118 turf sprints to account for 49%. In 2022-23, horses on or close to the pace won 31 of the 118 races to account for 26%, and closers won 29 of the races for 25%. As you can see, the stalkers had a big statistical advantage in the couple of years before last, but not in 2024.

In turf routes, Saratoga uses two turf courses with about three times as many routes being carded on the inner turf as opposed to the Mellon (outer) turf course.

There were 73 inner turf route races run at Saratoga in 2024, and those races were not favorable for speed horses last year. Horses on or close to the pace won only 17 times (23% of the races), as opposed to stalkers who won 29 of the races (40%) and closers who won 27 of the races (37%). Horses’ stats diminished the further outside they broke from in the starting gate. The 2024 stats were in line with the stats from 2022-23 which also favored horses drawn close to the inside.

The Mellon (outer) turf course played totally differently from the inner course in terms of post positions last year, when outside posts were better than inside posts on the Mellon course and represented a solid handicapping angle. The 32 turf routes run on the outer turf course had an average field size of 8.85 runners per race, yet outside horses breaking from posts 7 and greater won 13 times to account for a disproportionate 41% of the races.

In terms of the best outer turf route running styles, let’s look at the last three seasons with a total of 84 outer turf route races. The running style advantage went to stalkers and closers, which leaves only the front-runners at a disadvantage. Speedsters won only 22 times to account for 26% of the races, while stalkers won 35% and closers won 39%.

Last but not least, a visual handicapping angle applies to inner turf races at the Spa. If you can get to the paddock or get a really good view on the simulcast TV feed, look for physically small, athletic-looking horses instead of large, long-striding horses. The little guys handle the tight inner course turns nicely, while the big bulky horses generally don’t.

Hopefully you can benefit from this Spa handicapping primer and win big this summer. Have a great season at Saratoga. Good luck!