3 Best Bets to Win the 2025 Sword Dancer Stakes

Key Takeaways:

• Far Bridge (9-5) is the defending champ with a likely pace advantage and top connections having a red-hot meet at the Saratoga Race Course.
• El Rezeen (15-1) has room to improve second off the layoff and may sit closer to the pace on firmer footing.
• El Cordobes (4-1), a lightly raced European, brings upside and tactical speed for top jockey Flavien Prat.

Older turf routers take the spotlight Saturday, August 9, at Saratoga Race Course for the Grade 1 Sword Dancer Stakes. The 1 ½-mile race not only offers a rich $750,000 purse, but the winner also earns an automatic berth to the Breeders’ Cup Turf on November 1 at Del Mar through the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series.

The Sword Dancer drew a field of nine contenders. Far Bridge, who won the race in 2024, returns to this race off of a three-length triumph in the local prep, the Bowling Green (G2) on July 12. He’ll face El Rezeen, the horse who completed the Bowling Green exacta, once again.

Some of their toughest challengers include a pair of overseas shippers for the shrewd Charlie Appleby. Nations Pride has already come to Saratoga Springs, New York before; he has a win in the 2022 Saratoga Derby (G1) and a runner-up finish in the 2024 Manhattan (G1) to show for those visits. His stablemate El Cordobes visits North America for the first time, though he did ship to Meydan and put up two good races over the winter.

The Sword Dancer is the 10th of 12 races on the Saturday card at Saratoga Race Course, a day that also includes the Saratoga Oaks (G2). First post for the card is at 12:35 Eastern Daylight Time, with post time for the Sword Dancer scheduled for 5:44 p.m. EDT.

These are the three best bets for the Sword Dancer Stakes:

1. Far Bridge (2025 Sword Dancer Stakes odds: 9-5)

Far Bridge is the morning-line favorite, and he stands to remain at the top of the market come post time. But, when the best horse also gets a pace advantage, they become downright imposing. And, that’s the case with Far Bridge in the Sword Dancer Stakes.

There are nine horses in the race, but Far Bridge is the only one who frequently shows early pace. Though he more often takes a stalking spot than the front end, he is not shy to set the fractions if necessary—he showed that last year in the Sword Dancer Stakes, which he led at every call and won by a length. Joel Rosario rode him that day and has been Far Bridge’s rider in every start since. The only time he has finished off the board during that seven-race span was in the Breeders’ Cup Turf, against a more difficult field than he faces in this.

In addition to the rapport between Rosario and Far Bridge, it also stands out what a good summer Far Bridge’s connections are having in Saratoga Springs this summer. Joel Rosario is winning over 20% of the time; trainer Miguel Clement is winning almost a quarter of the time. When connections this hot have a class horse with a pace advantage … it means the race is a good spot to give Far Bridge his due respect.

2. El Rezeen (2025 Sword Dancer Stakes odds: 15-1)

The most appealing of the price horses is the one who chased Far Bridge home in the Bowling Green, El Rezeen. This four-year-old Todd Pletcher trainee is still lightly raced, with just nine starts underneath him. But, both his tries in graded-stakes company have been solid efforts: that runner-up outing in the Bowling Green as well as a third-place finish, beaten just three quarters of a length, when he contested the Jockey Club Derby (G3) last October at Aqueduct.

El Rezeen will need to improve to turn the tables on Far Bridge, of course. But, he comes second off the layoff, a situation in which Pletcher’s charges are liable to move forward. And, from a pace perspective, he does not always have to be as far off the pace as he was last out in the Bowling Green. With a bit firmer ground underneath him, something he has handled well in the past, El Rezeen has been able to track in closer range and even win races with downright sluggish pace in front of him. If El Rezeen can tap into that dimension, he can be an even bigger threat than he was in the prep race—and even though the 15-1 morning-line odds seem high after how well he was bet in his prep, something close to 10-1 is both plausible and fair.

3. El Cordobes (2025 Sword Dancer Stakes odds: 4-1)

Given the presence of William Buick, Nations Pride is the “A” entrant from the Charlie Appleby barn. But, since Nations Pride often needs a race off the layoff to round back into his best, the more interesting horse from the barn is the new face, El Cordobes. Even though he loses his regular rider, he gets a top-class replacement: Flavien Prat, the leading American big-race rider today.

El Cordobes has some class to prove, especially since the Princess of Wales’s (G2) he won at Newmarket last out was just a four-horse field with a no-show favorite. However, he won by a confident two lengths, making it a good graded-stakes breakthrough for this lightly-raced four-year-old. It was his second career win at 1 ½ miles, and he has never missed the board in four starts, suggesting the distance is his best game.

And, it stands out that he showed tactical speed in that outing. El Cordobes does not always race close to the pace, but he has been able to race on or near the pace in several of his races. American speed is sharp enough in general that it would be a surprise to see El Cordobes on the front end, even from the fence, but Prat should be able to take advantage of his tactical ability, draw up a strategy, and keep him in a spot where he at least gets the jump on the real closers.

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