The Saratoga Race Course summer racing season attracts the best horses and horsemen, not only from New York but from everywhere. Trainers from many circuits point their best horses to Saratoga, and the competition for winners is stiffer at “The Spa” than it is anywhere else.

Which trainers and jockeys will lead the way and make hay for handicappers at the 2026 Saratoga summer meet? Let’s take a closer look.

Saratoga’s Top Trainers

Leading trainer Chad Brown (Anne M. Eberhardt/BloodHorse)

Chad Brown and Todd Pletcher finished the 2025 Saratoga summer season tied for first in the trainer standings with 32 wins each. Those wins accounted for a 17% win percentage for Brown and an even stronger 24% win percentage for Pletcher. Linda Rice was third on the leaderboard with 24 wins (19%) followed by Miguel Clement with 18 wins (23%), Bill Mott with 16 wins (15%), Steve Asmussen with 15 wins (30%), and Mike Maker with 14 wins (18%). Every trainer on the list is expected to be up there again in 2026.

Two summers ago, it was all Chad Brown dominating the trainer standings with 45 wins to run away with the title. The 2023 trainer’s title came down to the closing day of the meet and ended in a tie with Brown and Rice sharing the crown with 35 wins each. Before Rice’s big season in 2023, Brown or Pletcher had owned the Spa title every year for more than a decade since 2010. Brown won the crown in 2016, 2018, 2019, 2021, and 2022. Pletcher won in 2017, 2020, and every year from 2010-2015 as a part of his 15 overall training titles at the Spa.

The top trainers win the most races, but they often pay off at low odds. Therefore, you just can’t blindly bet these barns and expect to come out ahead. Instead, bet Brown, Pletcher, and Rice selectively in their best spots. For Pletcher, we’re talking about dirt races and especially in 2-year-old races. Pletcher was the top-winning trainer of 2-year-olds at the Spa every season for more than a decade until only recently being eclipsed in that department by Brown. Speaking of Brown, he also rules the turf route category where he annually tops all trainers in wins and stakes wins, sometimes winning as many as two or three times as many as any other trainer. Rice owes much of her success at this time of year to turf sprints after reigning as the Spa turf sprint queen for more than 20 years.

Maker is known for getting off to hot starts at Saratoga, so bet him early before his barn’s late summer focus shifts to Kentucky Downs. Maker tied Pletcher for second in the 2024 trainer standings with 22 wins. He won 12 races at Saratoga in 2023, 17 races in 2022, and 25 races in 2021. Despite this, Maker often gets overlooked and his average win payoff is often the best among the leading trainers at the meet. Mark Casse is exactly the opposite. He usually starts slow at Saratoga and then wins more during the second half of the meet and with horses making their second (or third) starts of the season. Overall, Casse was a very good 12-for-63 (19%) at last year’s meet, his best season in years.

Brad Cox (12-for-59, 20% in 2025 and 14-for-54, 26% in 2024) has become a high-percentage annual threat at Saratoga after also winning 27% in 2023, 24% in 2022, and 27% in 2021. Most of Cox’s wins come in dirt races, so bet him on the main track. Steve Asmussen also rarely wins Spa turf races, but he can be lethal at times on the main track as he was in 2025 when he had 15 wins from 50 starters. Another high-percentage category for Asmussen at the Spa is in stakes races.

Trainer Phil Bauer (Coglianese Photos/Walter Wlodarczyk)

For bettors, it’s not only about the leading trainers. More barns that horseplayers should put their money on in 2026 at Saratoga are led by Phil Bauer (5-for-18, 28% in 2025 after winning 35% in 2024, 24% in 2023, and going 6-for-13 for 46% in 2022). The current turf sprint king at Saratoga is George Weaver, who won 11 races at Saratoga in 2025 (17%) with many of those wins coming in turf sprints. More trainers that had red-hot seasons at Saratoga in 2025 and could repeat that in 2026 include Philip Antonacci (5-for-18, 28%), Dale Romans (5 wins with 9 starters), and Chad Summers (4 wins from 12 starters). Saffie Joseph Jr. became a big factor at Saratoga two years ago with a record of 11 wins from 35 starters for 31% in 2024. He then followed that up by winning nine of his 60 starts in 2025 due to some really bad luck. He still had 13 places and 13 shows resulting in a strong ITM percentage of 58%.

On the flip side, some trainers to be cautious with after disappointing 2025 seasons who will need to improve in 2026 include Wayne Potts (1-for-38, 3%, after going 2-for-33 for 6% in 2024), Bruce Levine (1-for-27), Mark Hennig (1-for-33), Richard Dutrow Jr. (1-for-36), and Rudy Rodriguez (2-for-86).

Saratoga Jockey Colony is Beyond Compare

When it comes to the nation’s leading riders, there is no meet in the country that can compete with the quality of the jock’s room at Saratoga. The title of leading rider at Saratoga carries more prestige than anywhere else.

Irad Ortiz Jr. has to be considered the favorite to win his fifth straight Saratoga riding title in 2026, but it will not be easy for Irad this coming season. He’ll begin the season serving a suspension and will face increased competition from both his brother Jose Ortiz and Flavien Prat.

Irad won the 2025 Saratoga summer title with 59 wins (21%) to outpace Jose Ortiz who finished second with 55 winners (23%). Either Irad or Jose Ortiz has won every Spa jockey title since 2015 with the only exception being in 2021 when Luis Saez took that summer’s title with 64 wins. More recently, Saez finished the 2025 meet seventh with 25 winners (14%).

Jockey Flavien Prat (Coglianese Photos/Walter Wlodarczyk)

Prat finished third in last year’s jockey standings with 42 wins (18%). He finished second to Irad Ortiz in terms of wins at the 2024 meet but was ranked first by purse earnings that year in what was an historic 2024 season for Prat at Saratoga when he broke the all-time Saratoga summer meet records for stakes wins (18), graded stakes wins (14), and Grade 1 wins (7). While both Irad and Jose Ortiz have moved their main base of operations out of New York for the rest of the year, Prat has gone in the opposite direction and moved his tack to New York to bolster his local ties this past winter and spring. He notched the most wins among jockeys at June’s 2026 Belmont Stakes racing festival at Saratoga and is a legitimate threat to take Irad’s throne at the 2026 summer meet.

When trying to predict the top 10 riders at the 2026 summer season at Saratoga, the Ortiz brothers and Prat are very likely to be the top three, followed by Saez and Manny Franco, who has been the leading rider at four of the last five NYRA meets dating back to last year. Jose Lezcano benefits from his association with Linda Rice, and Dylan Davis, who finished eighth in the 2025 standings after tying for third with 36 wins in 2024, will also be in the mix. Ricardo Santana Jr. enjoyed a breakout season at Saratoga in 2025 with 38 wins (15%), and Kendrick Carmouche finished fifth at last summer’s meet with 29 wins (15%) but often slips under the radar on the tote board amongst a jock’s room this loaded with superstars.

Even though they ride much fewer mounts and probably won’t crack the top 10, you also can never forget about veteran jockeys like John Velazquez, Joel Rosario, and Javier Castellano at Saratoga. Johnny V. had 16 wins (15%) at last year’s Spa summer meet while Castellano had 11 wins last summer (12%) and Rosario had 28 wins (18%).

Finally, poised for improved seasons at Saratoga in 2026 will be Tyler Gaffalione and Junior Alvarado. Gaffalione rode at Ellis Park last summer when recovering from an earlier injury, but he finished tied for third when last seen in the Saratoga jockey standings in 2024 with 36 winners. He should re-join the top 10 this season. Alvarado was also on the comeback trail from an injury last summer but still was able to finish 10th in the standings with 18 wins (13%). He’ll do better with a full season this year. As goes Bill Mott, so goes Junior Alvarado at Saratoga.