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Saratoga Horse Racing Betting Guide and 2024 Summer Racing Schedule

Written By FairwayJay | Last Updated at August 3, 2026
Saratoga horse racing odds betting

The Saratoga Summer Meet is one of the special events on the horse racing calendar. The 2024 summer meet will begin Thursday, July 11 and runs through Labor Day on September 2.

On this page we will look at horse racing betting odds for the 2024 races at Saratoga and more.

Saratoga odds

For live odds on every race at Saratoga go to FanDuel Racing. For Travers Stakes odds go here.

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Saratoga horse racing odds: Season preview

Here comes the Summer of Paradise.

That’s long been a theme for Saratoga Race Course fans and bettors, who welcome the fabled upstate New York track’s 40-day live-racing meet from July 13-September 4.

Saratoga unfurls an impressive 71 stakes worth $20.8 million, headlined by the $1.25 million Runhappy Travers Stakes on Aug. 26 and the $1 million Whitney Stakes Aug. 5.

Travers Day will be the most lucrative card on the entire circuit. There will be more than $4 million in purses.

A popular new racing concept - the turf racing Triple Crown circuits for fillies and mares - becomes a major player in the Saratoga lineup and will be featured weekend of Aug. 4-5.

These races follow on the heels of the turf triple crowns inaugurated by the New York Racing Association in 2019.

The $600,000 GI Saratoga Derby Invitational Aug. 5 is the second leg of the turf crown series for male horses. It is sandwiched between the July 8 series opener and the October finale, both at Belmont Park.

The $400,000 Saratoga Oaks for fillies follows the same schedule.

The stakes races, combined with the Whitney, provide an exceptional racing weekend.

Other meet highlights include the$600,000 Jim Dandy, the prelude to the Travers, on July 30.

Both the Jim Dandy and the Travers were won narrowly by eventual Eclipse-Award winning Essential Quality last year. Essential Quality went on to gain third in the Breeders Cup behind Knicks Go and Medina Spirit.

The 2023 Saratoga meet will run Wednesdays through Sundays after a four-day opening weekend. There will be at least one six-figure purse every day of the meet and several cards will be loaded with them.

Here is the Saratoga Racing Schedule, according to NYRA. Some dates may change. Check schedules periodically.

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

Week 8

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Saratoga Race Course

Saratoga Springs is also home to the National Museum of Racing. Along with the 1 1/8 mile (9 furlongs) main dirt track, Saratoga has a second 8-furlong turf track and a 7-furlong inner-turf track. The main dirt track is 4 inches of sandy-loam cushion over 10 inches of clay, silt and sand base. The 8-furlong Mellon Turf Course and inner turf course has 8 inches of sandy topsoil that is covered by Kentucky Bluegrass turf.

At more than 150 years old, the grounds at Saratoga maintain a historical feel, but the technology featured gives visitors a modern, convenient experience.

Nicknamed ‘The Spa’ for the nearby mineral springs, Saratoga has 76 stakes races worth more than $21 million in purses scheduled for the 2021 meet.

Key races and dates

The Saratoga stakes schedule is headlined by the 154th running of the Travers Stakes on Saturday, Aug. 26. Known as the 'Midsummer Derby', the Travers is the oldest major thoroughbred horse race in the United Stakes. It’s the most prominent race at Saratoga on the most popular day or racing during the summer. Since 1904, the race has been contested at 1 ¼ miles and is open to 3-year-old Thoroughbreds.

The $600,000 Grade II Jim Dandy is one to watch and draws some of the top 3-year-olds on July 29. The 1 1/8 mile race is also a prep for the Travers. It is named after Jim Dandy, who won the 1930 Travers Stakes at odds of 100 to 1, beating Triple Crown winner Gallant Fox. That historic upset is one of the big races mentioned in reference to Saratoga's peculiar reputation as the "Graveyard of Champions."

The $1.25 million Grade I Travers headlines the Aug. 26 card that includes eight graded stakes including seven Grade I races with three ‘Win and You’re In’ Breeders’ Cup qualifying races.

Other major races at Saratoga are the $1 million Whitney on Aug. 5, which is also a ‘Win and You’re In’ qualifying race to the Breeders’ Cup Classic. The following week on Aug. 12 is the $500,000 Fourstardave and awards the winner entry to the FanDuel Dirt Mile at the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Nov.3-4 at Santa Anita Park.

In total, 20 Grade I races are scheduled at Saratoga with four in July starting with the $500,000 Diana on July 17 for fillies and mares on the turf.

The August and September races of most interest include: (BC = Breeders' Cup qualifier)

In total, there are seven major stakes races at Saratoga that are also "Win and You're In" Breeders' Cup qualifying races.

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