Alabama Stakes 2022: Odds, picks, free PPs, preview, more

Two of racing’s top fillies are set for a Saratoga rubber match.

Nest is the 1-2 morning-line favorite for the Grade 1, $600,000 Alabama Stakes. Post time from Saratoga is 5:35 p.m. EDT, with Saratoga showing the 1 1/4-mile event for 3-year-old fillies.

The favorite Nest will square off with the third choice on the morning line, Secret Oath (4-1), for the third time this season in a Grade 1 event.

In the Kentucky Oaks, it was Secret Oath who rallied from eighth for a two-length win over Nest on May 6 at Churchill Downs. The two then parted company and took on the Triple Crown trail for their next starts.

Secret Oath checked early in the Preakness Stakes and raced wide throughout, coming home fourth May 21 at Pimlico. Nest enjoyed a better result three weeks later at Belmont Park, finishing second to stablemate Mo Donegal on June 11 in the Belmont Stakes.

Nest and Secret Oath returned to facing fillies July 23 at Saratoga in the Coaching Club American Oaks (G1), and the former put on a show. Nest shook clear into the stretch and romped by 12 1/4 lengths over a well-beaten Secret Oath in second.

Trainer Todd Pletcher has won the Alabama Stakes three times, including with champion Malathaat in 2021, and aims for a fourth win in the event with Nest. Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. aims for his second Alabama score.

D. Wayne Lukas, Secret Oath's trainer and Pletcher's former boss, has not won the Alabama Stakes since his filly Open Mind crossed first in 1989. Jockey Luis Saez hopes for his first win in the event.

Gerrymander (7-2) is the second choice on the morning line coming off a Mother Goose Stakes (G2) score June 25 at Belmont. She owns a win over Nest that came last November in the Tempted Stakes, also at Belmont.

Trainer Chad Brown will saddle Gerrymander two days after he appeared in court and pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor obstruction of breathing. Brown was back at the track Friday and would not comment when asked by reporters about his arrest.

Here is a look at the field for the 2022 Alabama Stakes (trainer and jockey in parentheses) for morning-line odds:

1. Skratch Kat (Philip Bauer, Julien Leparoux), 30-1

2. Goddess of Fire (Todd Pletcher, John Velazquez), 20-1

3. Gerrymander (Chad Brown, Flavien Prat), 7-2

4. Nest (Todd Pletcher, Irad Ortiz Jr.), 1-2

5. Nostalgic (Bill Mott, Jose Ortiz), 12-1

6. She’s Keen (Rusty Arnold, Jose Lezcano), 30-1

7. Secret Oath (D. Wayne Lukas, Luis Saez), 4-1

TimeformUS’ pace projections show Nest going out to the lead under Ortiz, with second choice Gerrymander settling in second behind the favorite.

Visit Horse Racing Nation’s free past performances page for more information on both the Alabama Stakes and the Queen’s Plate, scheduled for Sunday at Woodbine.

Alabama Stakes links

Considering the Alabama lacks a true pacesetter, Reinier Macatangay writes, Gerrymander might as well go for the early lead and see if Nest and the others can catch her.

Matt Shifman offers Alabama Stakes odds and analysis, sorting out who to bet and who to toss.

Laurie Ross and Ashley Tamulonis go head to head handicapping the Alabama Stakes, with both landing on Nest as their winner.

You can talk to D. Wayne Lukas every day for the rest of the summer and he will never, ever say that Nest is a dozen lengths better than Secret Oath. Not in a million years.

Read about Secret Oath’s final work toward the Alabama Stakes on Tuesday at Saratoga.

On this week’s edition of the Ron Flatter Racing Pod, Tom Law of The Saratoga Special previews the Alabama Stakes while trainer Mark Casse talks about his two Queen’s Plate runners.

This week on HorseCenter, hosts Brian Zipse and Shifman offer analysis and top picks for the Alabama Stakes from Saratoga and the Queen’s Plate from Woodbine as well as a quick look ahead to next week's Travers Stakes (G1).

Nest and Secret Oath are among J. Keeler Johnson’s horses to watch running this weekend at Saratoga and elsewhere.

Saturday stakes

Here is a look at other graded-stakes races taking place Saturday across North America. All post times are EDT.

3:54 p.m. – $250,000 Philip H. Iselin Stakes (G3), 3-and-up, 1 1/16 miles, Monmouth Park, TVG

Forza Di Oro (8-5), a Grade 3 victor, returns off a layoff dating to a fifth-place effort Oct. 2 at Belmont Park in the Woodward Stakes (G1). Jerry Hollendorfer trains the 5-year-old son of Speightstown, who was formerly in Bill Mott’s barn, and has tabbed Paco Lopez to ride. Chad Brown trains Highly Motivated (9-5), winner of the Monmouth Cup Stakes (G3) on July 23. Grade 3 winner Promise Keeper (5-2) looks to bounce back for trainer Todd Pletcher off an eighth-place finish against allowance foes May 13 at Churchill Downs.

4:26 p.m. – $200,000 Lake Placid Stakes (G2), 3-year-old fillies, 1 1/16 miles (turf), Saratoga, FS2

With The Moonlight (9-5) wheels back 13 days after winning the Saratoga Oaks Invitational Stakes (G3) going 1 3/16 miles on Aug. 7. Jockey Luis Saez climbs aboard the Frankel filly for trainer Charlie Appleby. Brown trains Consumer Spending (7-2), a Grade 2 winner who was third July 9 in the Belmont Oaks Invitational Stakes (G1). Haughty (9-2), another Brown-trained stakes winner, ran ninth in the Belmont Oaks.

8:34 p.m. – $300,000 Del Mar Oaks (G1), 3-year-old fillies, 1 1/8 miles (turf), Del Mar, TVG

Spendarella (8-5) returns stateside for her first start since finishing as runner-up June 17 in the Coronation Stakes (G1) at the Royal Ascot meet. The Grade 2-winning Karakontie filly is 3-for-3 on domestic soil for trainer Graham Motion and will have jockey Tyler Gaffalione up. Robert Hess Jr. trains Cairo Memories (3-1), a two-time Grade 3 heroine who was fifth when shipping east for the Belmont Oaks. Txope (5-1) won the German One Thousand Guineas (G2) on June 12 at Dusseldorf and makes her U.S. debut Saturday for trainer John Sadler.

10:50 p.m. – US$154,000 Canadian Derby (G3), 3-year-olds, 1 1/4 miles, Century Mile, TVG

Red Knobs (3-1) won the Manitoba Derby on Aug. 1 at Assiniboia and now aims to make the grade for trainer Robertino Diodoro at this track south of Edmonton, Alberta. Jockey Jorge Carreno, who will climb aboard the Union Rags colt, won the 2012 Canadian Derby with Toccetive. Edgar Mendoza trains Soaringforthesun (9-2), winner of the BC Cup Sir Winston Churchill Derby Trial Stakes on Aug. 1 at Hastings in Vancouver. Gunfighter (5-1) was second in that race at Hastings for trainer John Snow.