Life Is Good, Olympiad face off at Saratoga

Friday, August 5, 2022 | By NY Hot List Staff

The main event of the Saratoga meet for older horses takes place Saturday when the $1 million Whitney Stakes showcases two of the leading candidates for Horse of the Year honors. It will be Breeders’ Cup winner Life Is Good versus Olympiad, victor in his last five starts, in the 1 1/8-mile Whitney, with one of them, or possibly neither, emerging as the main rival for Flightline in the race to be Horse of the Year. The field of six also includes four Grade 1 winners in Life Is Good, Hot Rod Charlie, Happy Saver, and Americanrevolution, giving the race short on quantity an overload of quality.

Here’s the Hot List picks for the Whitney:

$1 million Whitney Stakes (G1) – Saratoga, Saturday, Race 10.

(6) Life Is Good returned to the races from a fourth in the Dubai World Cup (G1) to win the Nerud (G2) at Belmont. His only other loss was to the great sprinter Jackie’s Warrior last year by a neck after a long layoff. In the Whitney, he should be able to get to the lead as he always does, get control of the race, and hold off any challenges down the stretch. (4) Olympiad won five races in a row, four of them were graded stakes, since the beginning of 2022 when Bill Mott put him to race around two turns. He will try and win his first Grade 1 in the Whitney. (2) Hot Rod Charlie is a bit of a wild card in this field. He could end up battling with Olympiad in a stalking position behind the leader making it easier for Life Is Good. (5) Happy Saver could benefit from any pace battles that develop and rally into exotics.

The rest of the NY Hot List picks and the Special Saturday Pick 3 are available free of charge at this website.