2025 Saratoga Derby Invitational Preview

Key Takeaways:

• Test Score (7-2) looks to sweep the Turf Triple after a Belmont Derby win and has the tactical speed to adapt.
• Hotazhell (7-5) ships in with elite European form, including a G1 win and strong efforts against older horses.
• Final Gambit (6-1) adds blinkers for Brad Cox and could sit closer in a race with limited pace.
• Juwelier (20-1) and Tiberius Thunder (15-1) add intrigue as foreign invaders in a wide-open Grade 1.

Top turf sophomores from at home and abroad line up Saturday, August 2, for the Grade 1 Saratoga Derby at Saratoga Race Course. The race, the second leg of the New York Turf Triple, covers 1 3/16 miles on the lawn. Belmont Derby (G1) winner Test Score lines up to go for a win in the second leg, and he will face eight foes. Should he win both this and the Jockey Club Derby in the autumn, he would become the first horse to sweep the series.

The road will not be easy, however. World Beater, New Century, and Final Gambit come back from the Belmont Derby. Final Gambit is not the only Kentucky Derby horse in this field, as Tiztastic also lines up. Capitol Hill completes the American set, while Juwelier, Hotazhell, and Tiberius Thunder all ship overseas for a shot at Grade 1 glory.

Once again, the Saratoga Derby also serves as a qualifier for the Cox Plate (G1) on October 25 at Moonee Valley in Australia. The race is one of the most prestigious of the racing year down under. One horse has won both the Saratoga Derby and the Cox Plate: State of Rest, in 2021.

2025 Saratoga Derby Invitational Information

• Race Date: Saturday, August 2
• Track: Saratoga Race Course
• Post Time: 4:28 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time
• Distance: 1 3/16 miles
• Age/Sex: three-year-olds
• Where to Watch: FanDuel Racing, Fox
• Where to Bet: FanDuel Racing

Saratoga Derby Invitational Draw and Odds

These are the nine entrants for this year’s Saratoga Derby Invitational, including post positions, trainers, jockeys, and official morning-line odds for each horse.

Saratoga Derby Invitational Prep Race Results

The nine horses in the Saratoga Derby field come out of six different races. Fittingly, the one with the most last-out starters is the Belmont Derby, which was run at Saratoga on July 4. That day Test Score rallied to win by 1 ¼ lengths over a chasing World Beater. The late-running Final Gambit and the stalking New Century dead-heated for fifth, two lengths behind the winner.

One other horse comes out of a top-level stakes race—and, in fact, is the only one to come out of a race against older horses. That is Hotazhell, who cuts back in trip after flattening to fifth behind Delacroix in the Coral-Eclipse (G1) at Sandown on July 5.

Three others come out of group-level or graded-level company. Juwelier has freshened up since a win in the Derby Trial at Baden-Baden in Germany on May 31, which he won by a hard-fought head in just his fourth start. Capitol Hill was a close second behind the proven Zulu Kingdom in the one-mile Manila (G3) on July 4 at Saratoga, his stakes debut. Tiberius Thunder turns back a sixteenth of a mile after a fourth-place finish behind Trinity College in the Hampton Court (G3) at Royal Ascot, a race in which he was a rank outsider.

The only horse coming out of an ungraded race is Tiztastic, who tries to rebound from a fifth-place finish as the favorite in the American Derby at Churchill Downs on June 28.

Saratoga Derby Invitational Contenders

These are the nine runners in the 2025 Saratoga Derby in order of their post position.

1. Capitol Hill: He ran from well off the pace when cutting back to a mile for the Manila last out, though he was a little more tactical in his maiden win at 1 1/16 miles. It is a positive that Bill Mott keeps him in stakes company, and he should probably take well to the step up in trip given the stamina in the underside of his pedigree (he is out of a Smart Strike daughter of Tranquility Lake). The inside draw could lead to some traffic, and he does need another step up off of a race that is a career best in order to be a contender here, but he is lightly-enough raced to step forward enough for a piece underneath.
2. Juwelier: He is one of three horses racing in North America for the first time, and with just four starts, the least experienced in the field. A winner at both 1 ⅛ and 1 ¼ miles, he should find the 1 3/16-mile trip of the Saratoga Derby good. In terms of pace, expect him to show some early gas—he opened up a huge lead in the German Derby trial last out, digging in late to hold. How that speed holds up in America is a question, but he gets west-coast rider Umberto Rispoli in the irons—on paper, this race doesn’t have much in the way of early pace, meaning that it could be effective to try and steal this one just like he tried to steal that one at Baden-Baden.
3. Final Gambit: He has built a reputation as a closer, whether he is running on turf, synthetic, or dirt. However, he came close in a maiden race second-out from much closer to the pace than is usual for him, and trainer Brad Cox fits him with blinkers for the first time after he finished fifth in the Belmont Derby when returning to grass July 4. Cox shines with horses running with blinkers for the first time—not only a 28% win rate over the last three years but also a positive ROI, a major positive given how hard Cox’s horses get bet. And, with this race not having much speed on paper, this looks like a good day to add blinkers.
4. Tiztastic: A stakes winner on both grass and dirt, Tiztastic has reason to like the extra furlong compared to his last start; after all, he is a Grade 2 winner on dirt at 1 3/16 miles. If he can run back to that on Saturday, he has a shot—but that is a big question mark, as that race is anomalously good compared to his other nine starts. The pace also sets up against him, as he got a wicked fast past to close into when he won the Louisiana Derby, but is likely to get a much more modest pace in front of him at the Spa.
5. Test Score: Expectations were always high for Test Score—the Graham Motion trainee tried the With Anticipation (G3) last summer at Saratoga before he even broke his maiden. But, time has been good to him—in four starts as a three-year-old, he has two wins and two close money finishes. One of those wins came last out in the Belmont Derby going 1 ⅛ miles over this course. He is bred to enjoy the extra half furlong (or even more distance, even), and though he is not a confirmed frontrunner, he can stalk in closer range than many of his foes have done. This makes him a serious contender.
6. New Century: He was a classy two-year-old, winning the Summer (G1) at Woodbine and finishing fourth, beaten only two lengths in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Del Mar last fall. However, he still needs to put it back together as a sophomore. He hasn’t been bad—he was a late-running third, beaten 1 ¼ lengths, in the American Turf (G1) before dead-heating for fifth in the Belmont Derby. It was interesting to try him in a stalking style last out, and it would have been nice if that more forward style worked better, given the lack of pace in this race.
7. Hotazhell: He won four of his six outings as a juvenile including a nose victory in the Futurity (G1) at Doncaster last October, marking him as an exciting horse. He has not been back to the winner’s circle in two starts at three, but has been keeping top company – he was third behind the top-class Field of Gold in the Irish 2000 Guineas in May, and then fifth against older in the Coral-Eclipse at Sandown on July 5. A bit of a cutback in distance from that Coral-Eclipse distance will help, as will the fact that he is a forwardly-placed horse in a race without a lot of front-end gas.
8. Tiberius Thunder: He won his debut at Dundalk in February of this year, going a mile on the all-weather, but has yet to win in four subsequent races on grass, including a trio of Group 3 efforts. A bit of a cutback in trip won’t hurt, and he should be forwardly placed, though not likely to be right on the lead. However, he looks up against it from a class perspective.
9. World Beater: He was well beaten in two starts on dirt last year, but trainer Riley Mott switched him to the lawn this year and he has improved continually. The distance is a question – he has never gone past 1 ⅛ miles before. But, with nice pedigree for the stretch out on both the top and bottom of his pedigree, this is worth trying. There are concerns – he would do better with a little more pace in front of him, and though Riley Mott has hit the board in graded stakes (including when World Beater himself was second in the Belmont Derby), he has yet to win at the graded level. Even so, and even with the modest pace likely, a piece of exotics is not out of the question, especially with a clean outside trip.

Saratoga Derby Invitational FAQ

Q: When is the Saratoga Derby?

A: The Saratoga Derby Invitational happens Saturday, August 2 at 4:28 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time.

Q: Where is the Saratoga Derby?

A: The Saratoga Derby, one of the featured turf races of the New York Racing Association season, happens at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York. The race is the ninth of 13 on the Saturday card, and is one of four Grade 1 events on Whitney day.

Q: Which trainer has the most wins in the Saratoga Derby?

A: The Saratoga Derby has been run six times before, and only one trainer has won more than once: Chad Brown, who won in 2020 with Domestic Spending and 2023 with Program Trading. Brown does not have an entrant, and all trainers in the 2025 edition seek their first Saratoga Derby win.

Q: Who is the favorite for the Saratoga Derby?

A: The 7-5 morning-line favorite is Hotazhell for trainer Jessica Harrington and jockey Shane Foley. He should hold as the betting favorite—he is a Grade 1 winner in Great Britain, and has been keeping top-level European company this year.

Q: Who is the best Saratoga Derby jockey?

A: No jockey has yet won the Saratoga Derby more than once in its short six-year history. Among those with a mount this year, Irad Ortiz, Jr. (New Century), Flavien Prat (Final Gambit), and John Velazquez (Capitol Hill) have won the race before.

Q: Who won the Saratoga Derby in 2024?

A: Carson’s Run won the 2024 Saratoga Derby for the late Christophe Clement, jockey Dylan Davis, and owners West Point Thoroughbreds and Steven Bouchey. Davis does not have a call in the 2025 edition.

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