SARATOGA 2023: Elite Power goes for eighth straight with Saturday’s Vanderbilt (G1)

Field size in Saratoga graded stakes this summer has been on the small side. The average through Wednesday’s Honorable Miss Stakes (G2) was 6.0 starters, 5.5 if one leaves out the opening weekend’s juvenile stakes (the Schuylerville and Sanford), which tend to attract more starters. Only four horses went in the Shuvee (G2) and Honorable Miss.

Of course, small fields can still produce terrific races, as we saw in Whitebeam’s nose victory over In Italian in the Diana (G1) and Wet Paint’s stirring late rally in the Coaching Club American Oaks (G1). And then there was the Shuvee, whose four starters included Nest and Clairiere, the two best older females in training.

On Saturday’s card, only four other three-year-olds are entered to face Forte in the featured Jim Dandy (G2). In the day’s other major race, a mixed group of six older sprinters have signed on to challenge the formidable Elite Power, the 4-5 morning-line choice in the Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap (G1). The five-year-old son of Curlin will be looking to extend a seven-race winning streak that began last June. The four most recent victories were in graded races, including the Vosburgh (G2), Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1), Riyadh Dirt Sprint (G3) in Saudi Arabia and, most recently, the True North Handicap (G2).

On paper, Gunite (8-5) appears to have the best chance of upsetting the favorite. The four-year-old Gun Runner colt is a seven-time stakes winner, although only two were of the graded variety. Those wins both came at Saratoga, however, in the 2021 Hopeful and in last year’s Amsterdam. Gunite also owns a pair of runner-up finishes at the Spa, in the 2021 Saratoga Special (G2) and last year’s Jerkens Memorial (G1).

Oddsmakers give Dean Delivers a puncher’s chance in the six-furlong sprint at 8-1. The four-year-old gelded son of Cajun Breeze exits arguably the best two efforts of his career, most recently a 2 1/4-length score in the Smile Sprint (G3) at Gulfstream.

The rest of the Vanderbilt field consists of Tom Fool (G2) winner Little Vic (15-1), allowance winner Awesome Aaron (30-1) and a pair of seven-year-old geldings, Gun It (10-1) and Synthesis (20-1), seeking their first stakes victories.