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Counting Stars, above winning the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks July 25 at Saratoga, profiles as an overwhelming favorite for the Alabama Stakes on Saturday. (Eclipse Sportswire)
The Alabama Stakes Presented by Keeneland Sales has cemented a place in Thoroughbred racing history as one of the most important stakes for 3-year-old fillies in North America. The race was first held in 1872, it has been held at the classic distance of 1 ¼ miles since 1917, and the Alabama has long been a fixture on the Saratoga Race Course calendar.
Multiple Grade 1 winner Counting Stars headlines a group of six fillies entered in this year’s edition trying to etch their names in the Thoroughbred racing history books as an Alabama winner alongside some true giants of the sport.
Indeed, the list of notable Alabama winners includes a remarkable list of truly elite female distance racehorses: Nitrogen (2025), Nest (2022), Malathaat (2021), Swiss Skydiver (2020), Elate (2017), Songbird (2016), Royal Delta (2011), Blind Luck (2010), Silverbulletday (1999), Banshee Breeze (1998), Heavenly Prize (1994), Sky Beauty (1993), Go for Wand (1990), Open Mind (1989), Mom’s Command (1985), Life’s Magic (1984), It’s in the Air (1979), Our Mims (1977), Desert Vixen (1973), Summer Guest (1972), Shuvee (1969), Gamely (1967), What A Treat (1965), Tempted (1958), Busanda (1950), Vagrancy (1942), Top Flight (1932), Maskette (1909), Beldame (1904), and Miss Woodford (1883).
The Alabama will be televised nationwide on FOX from 6-7 p.m. ET as part of NYRA’s “Saratoga Live” series that spans the entirety of the Saratoga meet.
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Read on for information about each of the six Alabama Stakes entrants.
Coady Media
1. Nycon
Jockey: Dylan Davis
Trainer: Whit Beckman
Owner: Icon Racing Stable (Werth)
Career record: 6 starts – 1 win – 2 seconds – 0 thirds
Career earnings: $163,518
Top Equibase Speed Figure: 85
Pedigree: Nyquist – Raise the Flag, by Awesome Again
Color: Dark bay or brown
Running style: Stalker/closer
Analysis: Nycon finished second earlier this year in a pair stakes races at one mile. She subsequently was tested against graded stakes competition while stretching out to 1 1/8 miles and the results have not been as promising. Nycon was 10 lengths behind winner Always a Runner when fourth in the $200,000 Gazelle Stakes in April and enters off a sixth-place finish at 41-1 odds in the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks July 25 at Saratoga Race Course, where she finished 24 lengths behind Alabama entrant Counting Stars. Three-year-olds can take big steps forward in the second half of the season, but Nycon probably would need to boost her Equibase Speed Figure by 15-20 points to have a chance to turn the tables on Counting Stars. On the bright side, Nycon hails from the powerful family of unbeaten champion and 1996 Broodmare of the Year Personal Ensign, her third dam (maternal great-grandmother), and the price should be appealing if you believe she will improve.
Bet Nycon in the Alabama Stakes
2. Ati Girl
Jockey: John Velazquez
Trainer: Bill Mott
Owners: Pantofel Stable, Wachtel Stable, and Gary Barber
Career record: 9 starts – 1 win – 3 seconds – 1 third
Career earnings: $131,979
Top Equibase Speed Figure: 90
Pedigree: Nyquist – Heavenly Scat, by Scat Daddy
Color: Bay
Running style: Stalker
Analysis: Ati Girl enters the Alabama Stakes off a 2 ½-length win in a 1 1/8-mile race on this main track at Saratoga Race Course. That victory, however, came in a maiden special weight race in her ninth career start, so the Nyquist filly is taking a monumental leap in terms of class into a Grade 1 race. Her career-top 90 Equibase Speed Figure indicates she would need to improve significantly to compete with projected heavy favorite Counting Stars, but Ati Girl does not appear to be outclassed by the rest of this group and her tactical speed should be an asset. Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez, a four-time Alabama winner, picks up the mount for Hall of Fame trainer and three-time Alabama winner Bill Mott.
Bet Ati Girl in the Alabama Stakes
Coady Media
3. Measure
Jockey: Flavien Prat
Trainer: Mark Casse
Owners: Gary Barber, Bridlewood Farm, and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners
Career record: 6 starts – 1 win – 2 seconds – 1 third
Career earnings: $179,616
Top Equibase Speed Figure: 94
Pedigree: Essential Quality – Fateer, by Eskendereya
Color: Dark bay or brown
Running style: Closer
Analysis: After finishing a distant third at 26-1 odds in the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks July 25 at Saratoga in her stakes debut, Measure has been entered for a rematch with winner Counting Stars in the Alabama. Both fillies are trained by U.S. and Canadian Hall of Famer Mark Casse, and Measure obviously has significant ground – 6 ¾ lengths to be exact – to make up on her stablemate. She has shown improved form since shipping to Saratoga Race Course, posting career-best 94 Equibase Speed Figures in a June allowance race and the CCA Oaks, both at 1 1/8 miles. Measure also picks up the services of two-time Eclipse Award-winning jockey Flavien Prat, who has won at a 25% clip for Casse in 2025-’26, and profiles as a strong candidate for another top-three finish in a Grade 1 race. Casse won this race in 2025 with Nitrogen, and co-owner Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners was part of the partnership that raced 2022 Alabama winner Nest.
Bet Measure in the Alabama Stakes
Adam Coglianese/NYRA
Jockey: Manuel Franco
Trainer: Chad Brown
Owner: Douglas Scharbauer
Career record: 3 starts – 2 wins – 0 seconds – 0 thirds
Career earnings: $130,500
Top Equibase Speed Figure: 91
Pedigree: Gun Runner – Strive, by Congrats
Color: Chestnut
Running style: Closer
Analysis: My Gun’s Loaded was transferred to trainer Chad Brown for the 2026 season and won her first two starts for him, both on this main track at Saratoga. The chestnut filly won a seven-furlong maiden special weight race by 4 ¼ lengths June 6 in her season debut and followed with a one-mile allowance win July 24, drawing clear to win by three lengths under Manny Franco. My Gun’s Loaded earned a career-best 91 Equibase Speed Figure for her most recent victory, but she faces a tough assignment competing in a Grade 1 race in her stakes debut for two-time Alabama Stakes-winning trainer Chad Brown. How she handles the additional quarter-mile is a key factor, but she could excel with the added ground as a daughter of 2017 Horse of the Year Gun Runner and appears to be a strong candidate for a top-three finish.
Bet My Gun’s Loaded in the Alabama Stakes
Jim McCue/Maryland Jockey Club
5. A. P.'s Girl
Jockey: Tyler Gaffalione
Trainer: Peter Eurton
Owner: C R K Stable
Career record: 10 starts – 2 wins – 1 second – 2 thirds
Career earnings: $158,289
Top Equibase Speed Figure: 86
Pedigree: Honor A. P. – March X Press, by Shanghai Bobby
Color: Bay
Running style: Closer
Analysis: Following back-to-back wins at Fair Grounds to begin her 3-year-old season, A. P.’s Girl has competed against stakes competition in her three most recent starts and finished in the top three in each race. The Honor A. P. filly finished second by a half-length in the Weber City Miss Stakes April 18 at Laurel Park before earning a career-top 86 Equibase Speed Figure for running third in the Grade 2 George E. Mitchell Black-Eyed Susan Stakes May 15. A. P.’s Girl enters the Alabama after finishing third in the Monomoy Girl Stakes June 13 at Churchill Downs. Like several others entered in the Alabama, A. P.’s Girl has a good chance to fill out the exacta or trifecta at an appealing price but would very likely need to improve her Equibase Speed Figure by 15-20 points to defeat Counting Stars. Jockey Tyler Gaffalione won the Alabama in 2020 on Swiss Skydiver.
Bet A. P.’s Girl in the Alabama Stakes
Eclipse Sportswire
Jockey: Irad Ortiz Jr.
Trainer: Mark Casse
Owners: West Point Thoroughbreds
Career record: 10 starts – 6 wins – 1 second – 1 third
Career earnings: $1,660,606
Top Equibase Speed Figure: 104
Pedigree: Honor A. P. – Paynterbynumbers, by Paynter
Color: Bay
Running style: Press the pace
Analysis: Facing only six opponents in the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks July 25 at Saratoga, Counting Stars went straight to the front under Irad Ortiz Jr. and led from start to finish in a 4 ¼-length romp where she earned a career- and field-best 104 Equibase Speed Figure. The Honor A. P. filly was entered against only five challengers in the Alabama with no dedicated pacesetters, so Counting Stars could find herself in in the same scenario Saturday with a major class advantage on the field. Counting Stars is a five-time stakes winner and has won three of her last four starts, one in a Grade 2 race and the last two in Grade 1s. No other filly in the field has even a single stakes win to her credit. Expect Counting Stars to be the heavy favorite under two-time Alabama Stakes-winning jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. and anything less than a win would be a surprise. Trainer Mark Casse has a golden opportunity to win the race for a second straight year after taking last year’s edition with Nitrogen.
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