The Morning Line by MyWinners: Closing Weekend for the ages. $3M Nashville Derby.
Hi there,
Leading Change won the Travers. The graveyard of champions claimed another one. Saratoga gave us everything it had last weekend, and now it's closing the doors. Kentucky Downs is hitting its stride. Hong Kong is opening theirs. And college football kicked off last weekend with a slate that made me feel alive again after two months of checking harness results at 11pm and pretending that counts as a social life.
This is a Friday-through-Monday weekend designed to keep you on the couch. The Nashville Derby is worth $3 million. The Kentucky Turf Cup is $2 million with a European raider who hasn't lost since May. Saratoga's final G1s go tomorrow and Sunday. Ka Ying Rising goes for 21 straight at Sha Tin (read that again, TWENTY ONE). The All American Futurity is $3 million on Monday. And the NFL opens Wednesday.
I'm so excited that my Apple Watch just alerted me that my heart rate has spiked like I've just run a mile. And I haven't even mentioned the lottery yet. More on that later.
This is a long read. So let's get into it.
→ What's on this week
🏇 Today (Fri Sep 4) 🇺🇸 Saratoga · P. G. Johnson Stakes · Seeking The Ante Stakes
🏇 Tomorrow (Sat Sep 5) 🇺🇸 Kentucky Downs · NASHVILLE DERBY($3M, G2) + Kentucky Turf Cup ($2M, G2) · Saratoga · SPINAWAY (G1) + With Anticipation (G3) · 🇺🇸 Del Mar · CLOSING WEEKEND · 🇨🇦 Woodbine Mohawk Park · Canadian Pacing Derby (G1) + Maple Leaf Trot (G1) + Simcoe (G3) + Community Day 4pm ET (harness)
🏇 Sun (Sep 6) 🇺🇸 Saratoga · HOPEFUL (G1) + Prioress (G3) · 🇺🇸 Albuquerque · All American Derby (G1, $1M) + All American Oaks (G1, $700K) · 🇭🇰 Sha Tin · HONG KONG SEASON OPENER · Chief Executive's Cup (G3, HK$4.2M) · Ka Ying Rising goes for 21 straight
🏇 Mon (Sep 7, Labor Day) 🇺🇸 Albuquerque · ALL AMERICAN FUTURITY ($3M, G1) + Mint Millions ($2M) at Kentucky Downs · 🇺🇸 Colonial Downs · Old Dominion Derby (G3) · Saratoga · Closing Day
🏇 Wed (Sep 9) 🇺🇸 Kentucky Downs · Closing Day
🎾 All week US Open tennis · Round of 16 through QFs
🏈 Tomorrow College Football Week 1 · Clemson at LSU 7:30pm ET · Boise St at Oregon 3:30pm ET
🏈 Wed Sep 9 NFLSeason Opener 🤯 · Seahawks vs Patriots 8:20pm
→ 🏇 KENTUCKY DOWNS: $5 MILLION SATURDAY
The $3,000,000 Nashville Derby (G2) and the $2,000,000 Kentucky Turf Cup (G2) run on the same card tomorrow. That's $5 million in two races at a track in Franklin, Kentucky, that fits about 5,000 people and runs on a surface shaped more like a European cross-country course than anything in New York or California.
Nashville Derby ($3M, G2, 1 5/16 miles turf). The second richest three-year-old stakes in America behind only the Kentucky Derby. Glacius ships in from Europe looking to add another American prize to his resume. This race drew a quality field chasing life-changing purse money on turf.
Kentucky Turf Cup ($2M, G2, 1½ miles turf). Ten-horse field. Post time 4:56pm ET. Tiffany is the one to watch. She's an elite European racemare trained by Sir Mark Prescott, 15 of 18 career starts finishing first or second. She enters off a neck win in the Group 1 Grosser Preis von Berlin at this distance. Two of her three group stakes wins came at a mile and a half. Burnham Square is the top US-based contender. Ole Crazy Bone is the defending champion.
Kentucky Downs runs through September 9. Rob's full guide is here.
→ 🏇 SARATOGA CLOSING WEEKEND: TWO MORE G1s, THEN THE LIGHTS GO OUT
Tomorrow: the Spinaway (G1, $300K) for two-year-old fillies. It's a Breeders' Cup Challenge race. The winner gets an automatic berth into the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies at Keeneland in November.
Sunday: the Hopeful (G1, $300K) for two-year-old colts. Also a Breeders' Cup Challenge qualifier. This race has produced future Derby winners. It's the last Grade 1 of the meet.
Monday is closing day. Labor Day at Saratoga. If you've been betting the meet all summer, this is your last shot until next July.
🎯 MY EXOTIC PICK: The streak ended at the Travers. Three winners in a row, and then Leading Change ran past Golden Tempo, Renegade, and a Sea Strike who'd been bet down to 7/2 at the windows. Nobody saw it coming. The graveyard of champions got another headstone. My exacta keying the big two on top? In the ground with them. The Spa giveth and the Spa taketh away.
Starting fresh with the Kentucky Turf Cup tomorrow at Kentucky Downs. $1 exacta box: Tiffany, Burnham Square, Ole Crazy Bone. That's six combos for $6. A European shipper winning the Grosser Preis von Berlin at this exact distance, the best American turf horse in the field, and the defending champ. If two of them hit the top two spots, this pays nicely. I like Tiffany on top.
→ 🇭🇰 🏇 HONG KONG SEASON OPENER: KA YING RISING GOES FOR 21
If you've never bet Hong Kong racing, this is a good weekend to start. Here's why.
Hong Kong is the richest pari-mutuel market on earth. There are no bookmakers. Every dollar goes into tote pools run by the Hong Kong Jockey Club. The average meeting generates around $200 million in pool liquidity. For comparison, Travers Day at Saratoga, the biggest single card of the American summer, does about $30 million. Hong Kong does six times that on a regular Sunday. The pools are so deep that big bets barely move the odds. You can play exotics with real money and the prices actually hold.
The 2026/27 season opens this Sunday at Sha Tin. First race posts at 12:30am ET (that's Saturday night into Sunday morning). The headline act is Ka Ying Rising, who is going for his 21st consecutive win in the G3 HKSAR Chief Executive's Cup (HK$4.2 million, 1200m). Twenty straight. Co-ranked the best horse in the world on the Longines World's Best Racehorse Rankings. And his dam was bought for $500. Five hundred dollars. A mare from a small farm in New Zealand's North Island, bred to a stallion nobody was talking about, and the result is a horse who hasn't lost since 2024. Trained by David Hayes, ridden by Zac Purton. He cruised through a barrier trial last Saturday in 56.73 seconds. After Sunday, he flies to Sydney for the $20 million Everest.
How to bet it. All Hong Kong races are available on MyWinners, online and on the app. Your bets go into the commingled Hong Kong pools, the same pools local bettors are using. Pools open before each race. Win, place, quinella, forecast, tierce, trio, first four, quartet. All of it.
How to watch it. Every race streams live on the MyWinners app and online. Saturday night, put a race on the TV, pull up the card on your phone, and bet from the couch.
Where to get form. Rob's full season-opener preview is on the blog: Hong Kong Racing Returns To Sha Tin. JJ is on the ground in Hong Kong filing tips all season. Happy Valley cards run Wednesday mornings from 7am ET forward. Sha Tin is most Sundays, starting around midnight ET.
3% cashback on all Hong Kong bets this opening Sunday. Details in promos below.
→ HARNESS: CANADIAN PACING DERBY + MAPLE LEAF TROT
Tomorrow night at Woodbine Mohawk Park: two Grade 1s on one card.
The Canadian Pacing Derby (G1) is the oldest stakes race in Canadian harness racing, running since 1936. The Maple Leaf Trot (G1) has been contested since 1950. Both finals Saturday night. Mohawk hosts a free Community Day from 4 to 6pm ET before racing. Post time 6:30pm ET.
→ 🏇 MORE RACING THIS WEEKEND
🇺🇸 Del Mar. Closing weekend. Last chance to bet the seaside oval until next summer.
🇺🇸 Colonial Downs. Old Dominion Derby (G3) on Labor Day Monday. Supercharger headlines a full field of 14. Rob's preview: Old Dominion Derby 2026.
🇺🇸 Albuquerque. Sunday brings the $1 million All American Derby (G1), and it's a rematch. Political Twist and King Of The Tide finished one-two in last year's Futurity separated by a neck, and meet again as three-year-olds. The $700,000 All American Oaks (G1) and $250,000 All American Gold Cup are on the same card. Labor Day is the big one. Ten two-year-olds go 440 yards in the $3 million All American Futurity (G1), the richest race in the breed, with the five fastest from each of two trial days on August 7 and 8. Tempting Lu is the one to beat. The filly clocked 20.999 for the fastest qualifying time of the meet, one of four fillies in a field the colts usually own, with Jose Enriquez up for Omar Vargas. Cowboys Flying was the most eye-catching trial winner, taking his heat by nearly four lengths into a 15mph crosswind. Third straight year at the Downs of Albuquerque, for a race that lived at Ruidoso Downs from 1959 until the flooding.
🇺🇸 Kentucky Downs. Runs through Wednesday September 9 with over $25 million in total stakes purses across the meet.
→ 🏈 COLLEGE FOOTBALL: VICTOR'S PICKS (WEEK 1)
Victor is back. Our resident college football man is locked in for the full season. Week 1 has 91 games and only one ranked matchup (Ole Miss vs Louisville). Victor found three spots he likes:
👉 Boise St +24.5 at Oregon. Nearly four touchdowns for a Boise team that made the CFP quarterfinals in 2024. They went 9-5 last year, but Victor says that's too many points for a team with real talent.
👉 Texas State/Texas OVER 59.5. Two offenses that want to push tempo. Victor sees a track meet in Austin.
👉 LSU -10 vs Clemson (7:30pm ET, ABC). Lane Kiffin's debut as LSU head coach. Saturday night in Death Valley. Victor says Kiffin comes out swinging and covers.
More picks coming next week.
→ SPORTS: 🏈 NFL KICKOFF + 🎾 US OPEN + ⚽ EPL
NFL. The regular season opens Wednesday September 9 with a Super Bowl LX rematch: Seahawks vs Patriots, 8:20pm ET on NBC. Thursday: 49ers vs Rams in Melbourne, the first regular-season NFL game played in Australia (8:35pm ET, Netflix). Monday: Chiefs vs Broncos at Arrowhead, 8:15pm ET on ESPN. Patrick Mahomes is back from the torn ACL and has been a full participant in training camp. He hasn't missed a practice since July.
US Open. Round of 16 through quarterfinals this weekend at Flushing Meadows. Ben Shelton into the third round for the fourth straight year. Final is September 13.
Premier League Week 3. Arsenal (boo) vs Chelsea (yay), Sunday 11:30am ET. That's the one. Newcastle vs Bournemouth Saturday 7:30am ET. Everton vs Manchester United Sunday 9am ET. Ipswich vs Liverpool tonight at 3pm ET.
→ 🆕 ON MYWINNERS: DRF ON THE CARD
This one is worth your attention.
We just added DRF Picks, DRF Projected Pace, and full form guides directly into the race cards on MyWinners. Open any race, and the DRF consensus picks are sitting right there at the top of the card. Scroll down and you've got pace projections, speed figures, power and class ratings, jockey/trainer stats, lifetime form. 130 years of Daily Racing Form data, built into the same screen where you place your bets.
No switching tabs. No separate subscriptions. No extra cost. It's all there.
Starting next week, you'll be able to add the DRF picks straight to your bet slip with one tap. See a consensus pick you like? Tap it, it's in your slip, you're betting. That's coming in days.
If you haven't opened the app this week, open it now and pull up tonight's Saratoga card. You'll see what I mean.
So many people cashed in on last week's promos that Leon has had to book himself into a spa. We'd feel worse about it if we weren't already planning the next one.
3% Cash Back, Hong Kong Opening Sunday Special. Every Win and Quinella Place bet on the full Sha Tin card this Sunday earns 3% cash back automatically, no opt-in required. Credits land in your account within three business days. See full terms →
$2,000 Exotic Cash Splash. The meet's closing days bring one last Cash Splash before the Spa shuts down for the year. Cash exotics all week for your shot at a share of the money. Opt in here →
Shoutout to JS from Pahokee, who smashed a Pick 5 at Assiniboia Downs on Tuesday night for over $8,000. Assiniboia. On a Tuesday. That's the kind of play that keeps us all coming back.
Closing weekend at Saratoga. $5 million on one card at Kentucky Downs. Ka Ying Rising chasing history in Hong Kong. The NFL coming back Wednesday. And a Mega Millions jackpot that might make all of this feel small.
See you at the rail.
Mike B
VIP & Community, MyWinners
Tel: +1800 468 2260 (support)
P.S. Tiger Woods entered a no contest plea on Tuesday for reckless driving. Five-year driving ban. He showed up to court with Vanessa Trump. Rich's take from our MyWinners Slack: "The driver is back in the bag." I'm not going to top that, so I'm not going to try.
P.P.S. Sports Haven update. I mentioned last week the old building at 600 Long Wharf was coming down. The wrecking crews started this week. If you ever placed a bet in those chairs, pour one out.
P.P.P.S. Tonight's Mega Millions is around $977 million. Tomorrow's Powerball is around $750 million. That's $1.7 billion across two draws. Billion, with a B. Stan Kroenke just paid $4 billion for the Angels, so you'd be halfway to owning a baseball team nobody in LA asked him to buy. The man already owns the Rams, Arsenal, and the Nuggets. As a Jets fan and a Chelsea supporter, I can confirm he is the enemy on multiple fronts. Tickets are available at all nine MyWinners venues. One of us is due.
P.P.P.P.S. Jai Alai is coming. Battle Court season opens September 18. Watch & Bet it on MyWinners.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Nashville Derby is a $3,000,000 Grade 2 race run over 1 5/16 miles on turf at Kentucky Downs, making it the second richest three year old stakes race in the country behind only the Kentucky Derby.
Saratoga closes on Labor Day, Monday September 7, 2026. The final two Grade 1s of the meet, the Spinaway and the Hopeful, run on Saturday September 5 and Sunday September 6.
Hong Kong races are available on MyWinners online and on the app. Bets go into the commingled Hong Kong pools run by the Hong Kong Jockey Club, the same pools local bettors use, with win, place, quinella, forecast, tierce, trio, first four, and quartet options.
Ka Ying Rising goes for his 21st consecutive win in the Group 3 HKSAR Chief Executive's Cup, worth HK$4.2 million over 1200m at Sha Tin on Sunday September 6, 2026.
The NFL regular season opens Wednesday September 9, 2026 with Seahawks vs Patriots at 8:20pm ET on NBC, a rematch of Super Bowl LX.
