Barry Faulkner's US Racing Preview

For my Thursday preview this week, I have run my eye over two races from Kentucky Downs together with a pair from Saratoga.

Hopefully, the analysis below will guide you to some profitable play but, whichever way you make your picks, good luck everyone! 

Kentucky Downs and Saratoga races for Thursday 3rd September 2026

Kentucky Downs 6 (7.39pm)

Allowance Optional ($80,000) N2X or N2L – Fillies and mares 3-year-olds and upwards – One mile – Turf

I had to look twice at the conditions of this race to check that TIRUPATI (7) still qualifies under the allowance provisions. Because here we have a mare who won a G3 at Santa Anita at the end of March last year, and was beaten just a head in the Wilshire G2 there four weeks earlier.

Although she has not added to that success in five subsequent starts, she has run solid races in better events than this, and was beaten by less than a length in this sort of grade on her last two starts, first at Ellis Park in early July, then at Saratoga a month later.

Thirteen months ago, Little Jamie (8) had the last of his seventeen races on dirt. Switched to Saffie Joseph Jr., she came back in the middle of May to run on turf for the first time, when 1¼ lengths 3^rd in a Black Type Stake going a mile at Gulfstream Park. She was off for three months after that, before finishing a neck 2^nd in a Handicap over the same course and distance eighteen days ago.

Tenuous cases could be made for Resplendence (1), Good Long Cry (2) and Salty Senorita (4) but this does look like an excellent opportunity for Tirupati (7) to add a fifth tick to her win column.

Selection: Tirupati (7)

Kentucky Downs 7 (8.12pm)

Allowance Optional ($80,000) N2X or N2X – 3-year-olds and upwards – One and a half miles – Turf

Since the beginning of 2025, the eight-year-old Harrow (3) has raced eight times, and half of those runs have come over this trip or a furlong shorter. He finished in the frame in three of them, including a Listed Stake at Delaware Park in the middle of June last year, and the Bowling Green G2 at Saratoga four weeks later.

His first three runs this year, were over nine furlongs or a mile but, when stepped up to eleven, in one of these at Aqueduct in the middle of June, he got home by a nose, with Mayor of Midnight (9) a head behind in 3^rd.

Harrow (3) has been away from racing action for eleven weeks since then, but a month after that encounter Mayor at Midnight (9) ran in a race at nominally the same level at Saratoga. He was unable to get involved there, but his ‘number’ for the run was a close to the one he earned on his previous start. It would not surprise me to see him improve on that, after a break of close to seven weeks.

INTERCEPTOR (4) could get involved if translating his dirt form to turf. He has had one go on the green stuff, but that was over nine and a half furlongs at Aqueduct in the middle of November, and his overall form has improved significantly since then. At the end of April at Churchill Downs, he finished 1¼ lengths 2^nd in a Listed Stake over this trip, having taken the same finishing position in the same grade going ten furlongs at Aqueduct on his previous outing.

Demolition Duke (11) set a strong pace going ten furlongs at Ellis Park eighteen days ago in this sort of grade. He was passed on the home turn by the 11-10 favourite, who went on to score by 2¾ lengths, with Demolition Duke (11) battling on gamely to hold 2^nd place by a nose.

In a tight one, I am going with Interceptor (4).

Selection: Interceptor (4)

Saratoga 8 (10.09pm)

Maiden Special Weight – 3-year-olds and upwards – Six and a half furlongs – Dirt

Complex Charlie (6) and Bogus Operandi (7) look the best of the ones that have raced here.

Complex Charlie (6) has finished on the board in all his four races to date, all weaker looking contests than this and never looked likely to win any of them. The latest of those runs came in late April, when he vied for the lead into the home run, before fading to 3^rd, beaten 3¼ lengths. He returns from a break of four months and will need to show definite improvement to take this.  

At the end of July, trainer Richard Dutrow took Bogus Operandi (7) down to Delaware Park for his debut, hardly a positive move. Going off at close to 12-1 in a Maiden Special Weight there, he chased the all-the-way winner, who won it by 2¾ lengths as the 7-10 favourite. Bogus Operandi (7) earned a speed figure not too far off the par here but I am inclined to treat that number with a several pinches of salt.  

At the 1952 Olympic Games, the legendary Czech runner Emil Zatopek won the 5,000 and 10,000 metres then, in a late call, decided to have a go in the marathon, his first start over the trip - and he won that too. His namesake here, ZATOPEK (2), a $625,000 yearling, trained by Chad Brown, is a three-year-old making a belated debut going just 1,308 metres, although he may get further.

He has been in regular work since the middle of June and looks as if he has not missed a scheduled timed drill since. His sire, Nyquist is a good source of winning debs, striking at a rate of 18%

Unlike the lad discussed above, Originality (4) is bred to go short. He is the fifth foal of his dam to race, and is looking to become her third winner, with one of her previous offspring a Listed Stakes winner. He also arrives with a solid state of work in advance of his first start.

However, the booking of Flavian Prat edges me towards Zatopek (2) for this.  

Selection: Zatopek (2)

Saratoga 9 (10.44pm)

Bernard Baruch Stakes (Listed) – 3-year-olds and upwards - One mile and half a furlong – Outer turf

Chad Brown has entered three here, Salamis (4), RUNNING BEE (5) and Risk Tolerance (7), with the first two of the trio looking to have the best chances.

Salamis (4) closed his 2025 campaign by winning the Hollywood Derby G1 at Del Mar at the end of November, getting on top late to score by a neck. However, I would not take the designation of that race too literally. His return came in a G3 here in early June, when he finished 4^th to Pass the Hat (3), beaten 3¾ lengths going a mile.

Then, towards the end of July, he was eased in grade into a third level Allowance Optional Claimer, which he took by a neck as the 11-8 favourite, earning a speed figure just ahead of the par here.

Running Bee (5) is a former winner of this event, although that was back in 2024, when he had Taking Candy (8) and Fort Washington (1) behind him. Nevertheless, he did manage to win a G3 at Tampa Bay Downs on the first of his two starts last year. That was at the beginning of February, before a creditable display in the Turf Classic G1 at Churchill Downs on his next start three months later.

He was off for fifteen months after that before reappearing in a Black Type Stake at Monmouth Park early last month, when he looked an unlucky 2^nd, falling short by just a nose after meeting traffic when making his run.  

After beating Salmis (3) in June, Pass the Hat (3) came back four weeks later to finish 2 lengths 3^rd in the same grade, and over the same strip and trip. He has been off for two months since that run but his victory before that came after a similar lay off.

Kupuna (2) was in good form around the turn of the year, winning two of his four starts, including a Listed event at Fair Grounds in the middle of January. He was in the frame in his other two runs in that sequence but has been away since Valentine’s Day, when he ran on to finish 3^rd, beaten 2¾ lengths in a G3 there. A late comer to turf, he is a player if returning in similar form here.

Taking Candy (8) has been away from the races for even longer, having last faced the starter in early November, when 2¾ lengths 3^rd in a G3 at Churchill Downs, his final race as a colt. Prior to that he had won the G3 at Fair Grounds that Kupuna was 3^rd in this year, and he was subsequently beaten by just ¾ of a length in the Wise Dan G2, also at the home of the Kentucky Derby.

It is not difficult to make a cogent case for a number in here but my final nod goes to Running Bee (5).

Selection: Running Bee (5)