Race 10 at Saratoga | Saturday, August 22 | Post Time 6:07 PM Eastern

Ballston Spa Stakes – Grade 2 | Purse $300,000 | One Mile and One-Sixteenth on Turf | Fillies and Mares, Three Years Old and Upward

Top Win Contender(s): Sunlit Uplands (2)

For second in exactas: And One More Time (5)

Sunlit Uplands (2) won a Group 3 stakes in Germany on July 5. Graded stakes in Europe are generally stronger than U.S. races, so a Group 3 race is comparable to a Grade 2 in the U.S. Only one other horse in this race has won better than a Group 3. Segesta won the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley in April. However, Segesta has since finished third and second in two races at Saratoga. In one, she was third from the eighth pole to the wire; in the other, she led early and finished second. She has not won in three races at Saratoga. Similarly, Ozara won her first race of the year on May 30 in a non-graded stakes, but she has finished sixth twice since. Three other horses in the field have not won in 2026. Those three are Deep Satin, Play With Fire, and Long Ago. Grayosh won the Grade 3 Matchmaker Stakes, earning a 100 Equibase Speed Figure, which is not good enough against Sunlit Uplands and And One More Time, who earned the same 106 figure when she won the non-graded DeLa Rose Stakes last month. In her three graded stakes this year, And One More Time has finished no better than fifth.

That puts Sunlit Uplands as the horse the other seven have to beat. Her last was her best effort, when she earned a 106 figure, and as a four-year-old she has more room for improvement. John Velazquez takes the mount, picking her over And One More Time, who he rode in the DeLa Rose. The jockey recently rode a pair of European imports to win important stakes at Saratoga, including Title Role earlier this meeting in the Belmont Derby and Bolshoi Ballet in the Sword Dancer in 2024. Velazquez has a way with these horses, making their first starts in the U.S.

And One More Time is the best horse to finish second because she is likely to take the lead, as she did in the DeLa Rose and in her other win this year, the Plenty of Grace Stakes in April. However, Sunlit Uplands has a better kick that may make the difference with And One More Time settling for second.

Win bet: Sunlit Uplands (2) at odds of 3 to 2 or higher. Exacta: Sunlit Uplands (2) over And One More Time (5), Segesta (6), Grayosh (7), Long Ago (8)