The Schuylerville

Purse $200.00 – For Fillies Two Years Old

6 Furlongs – Dirt

Saratoga – July 3, 2026

In what could’ve been a horrible trip, Its Yesterdays and jockey Manny Franco find room in the stretch to win the 22nd running of The Schuylerville. Owned and bred by Blazin D, she continues to be undefeated on the dirt, carrying a ton of momentum heading into the summer. Its Yesterdays increased her earnings to $149.00 in three career starts. It was a milestone victory for owner Blazin D, who secured his first Schuylerville triumph. Also, Jockey Manny Franco celebrated his second win in the past three years in the historic juvenile stakes. The Pennsylvania-bred ran the six furlongs in 1:09.56, just a little bit slower than the previous running. Everything truly worked out for this homebred as connections removed her shadow roll for this start. We will most likely see Its Yesterdays again in the Grade Three Adirondack next month at Saratoga. The longer distance should help her running style, so it will be interesting to see how she does going further. A huge congratulations to the connections on a big win!

Winner: Its Yesterdays – (Blazin D, M. Franco) Breaking from the gate, this filly didn’t have the best of starts and settled in sixth place. There was a swift pace upfront, so jockey Manny Franco just bided his time about three lengths off the speed. The field reached the far turn in the blink of an eye and Its Yesterdays started to look for room. At the quarter pole, the daughter of Its Showtime was staring at a wall of horses with nowhere to go racing two-wide. Manny Franco made the quick decision at that point to move this filly out six-wide with over a furlong to go! She had a clear running lane to run down in the stretch and just absolutely ate up ground in the final stages. The winning margin was ¾ of a length. Well done!

Second Place: Valedictorian – (Nakamura Stables, R. Santana Jr.) After winning in wire-to-wire fashion in her last race, this New York-bred came from off the pace today. Valedictorian broke in good order and sat off the pace one length back in fourth. She was racing two-wide down the backside, well within striking distance. Rounding the far turn, this filly was just kind of shadowing the leaders and not making up ground on the pacesetters. Valedictorian finally started making some headway passing the quarter pole, but there wasn’t a clear running lane to run. It was with one furlong to go when jockey Ricardo Santana Jr. found some room to gobble up some ground late. She had an impressive stretch run, but was outkicked by the winner.

Third Place: Whispering Pines – (Mb Stables, J R. Velazquez) There was a lot of hype around this Mb Stables homebred coming off a win in the KY Juvenile beating the boys. Connections elected to add a shadow roll for this start, but the experiment didn’t pay off. Whispering Pines settled in a perfect spot down the backside just off the speed in third. She was about a length off the leader and the 5/16 was where jockey John Velazquez started to ask her to go. The daughter of Championship Rounds looked poised to take the lead at the top of the lane, but she just didn’t have much of a late kick. She still fought on gallantly in the stretch to save third place. Whispering Pines will do better with more distance throughout the summer.

Fourth Place: Will Name You Later – (Serenity Stables, J L. Ortiz) Connections should be pleased with this effort after purchasing Will Name You Later for $250.00. Another interesting note is that Blazin D bred both this filly and the race winner, Its Yesterdays. Jockey Jose Ortiz did a good job out of the gate getting his horse out of trouble. The daughter of Its Showtime raced down the backside four-wide in fifth. There wasn’t much change around the far turn, with most of the field holding their position. Will Name You Later drifted out almost to the center of the track at the top of the stretch, losing a ton of ground. She still closed well and ultimately finished fourth. I would like to see this filly on the grass in the future.

– AJM

Categories: STAKES ARTICLES, Ungraded