by Mike Sardella, for Saratoga Raceway

Saratoga, NY — This week will be the richest of the racing season to date at Saratoga as three $40,000-plus finals will take over as the biggest races of the year with three months gone by from the ’07 racing calendar. For the past three weeks, the best 3- and 4-year-olds have been squaring off in $10,000 qualifiers for their finals that will take place on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.

Thursday night is ladies night at Saratoga and this week, the top fillies and mares will be squaring off for the $48,100 prize as the Virginia O’Brien Pacing Series comes to an end. Eight fillies and mares will take to the Spa oval for the night’s tenth race for the biggest race of the year for them. For the past three weeks, the pacers have been competing within a group of 20. The top points earners, according to their finishes in the top five of their respective races, will go at it for the big money.

Jaavo’s Girl will likely be the favorite as the Buffalo invader is riding a winning streak into the final. In back-to-back weeks, driver John Cummings, Jr. has guided the 4-year-old daughter of Western Hanover to the winner’s circle despite having post six. This past week, the mare had to fan four wide at the top of the stretch in order to acquire her half of the $10,000 purse and cement her spot in Thursday’s final. Now the post luck is on their side. Jaavo’s Girl will start from post one for the final. Look for this one to be the favorite in pursuit of her third win in a row.

There was only one lady that heads into the final without being beaten in her legs of the series. Pantomimist came in as an invader from New England and utilized rail draws to go back-to-back for reinsman Jason Bartlett. To repeat would be a great task as Pantomimist will start from post seven in Thursday’s final.

Western Miracle, the top points earner for the series, will have every shot as leading driver Dan Cappello, Jr. will be in tow as the mare looks for the biggest win of her career. Since coming to Saratoga at the end of March, Western Miracle has three second place finishes to go with a pair of wins in just six local tries.

Rounding out the field will be Tevyas Trick (Brian Cross), Kyotos Express (Brian Allen), La Diavla (John Stark, Jr.), Model Island (Gerry Mattison) and Romantic Adventure (Ron Cushing). Whenever the “big money” is on the line, usually a great race is in store for racing fans. Tune in Thursday for the richest race of the year to date at Saratoga as the fillies and mares battle for supremacy in the Virginia O’Brien Series final.

Friday night has been trot night at Saratoga for years and this Friday night the trotters will be featured in the Harold Story Trotting Series final. Of the three series contested in the past month at the Spa, this series may have been the most hotly contested. There were 38 trotters competing for this Friday’s final and for the past three Friday nights, the high steppers have been squaring off to acquire points for the final that will only showcase about 20 percent of the series’ participants.

Docdor Chaser has now emerged as the possible favorite for the Friday showdown as he makes his way into the final after winning two legs of the series and gathering a second in the other, despite making a break at the start. A sale purchase last fall for Brian Cross, Docdor Chaser is getting better every week and has gotten sharp at the right time.

Docdor Chaser had a unique task ahead of him this past Friday night as he had to start from the second tier, drawing post nine for his final qualifier for the series final. Driver/trainer Brian Cross was on the move early, quarter moving the favorite to the lead and never looking back enroute to another win, clocked in 1:59.2. With two wins and a second, Docdor Chaser was the top points earner in the Story Trotting Series.

Campbell Hall scored his second win of the series on Friday, coasting out of the pocket and into the winner’s circle for John Stark, Jr. The 4-year-old made his Saratoga debut in March, airing behind a near dozen length win. Since then, it has been feast or famine for Campbell Hall who registered his fourth win on Friday night, but has made two breaks in his Saratoga starts as well. With a good post position, Campbell Hall could head to post as the favorite in Friday night’s final.

A sleeper in the trotting final could be Wrigley. After starting his year in the non-winners of two races lifetime class, Brian Walker’s Wrigley has continued to get better and better. In the first leg of the series, Wrigley took on Campbell Hall late before coming up second best in a 1:57 mile, by far the fastest in the career of Wrigley. Following the second place finish, Wrigley was the favorite in the second leg of the series but made a costly break while ranging up towards the lead at the quarter pole. The third leg was a different story. Walker perched Wrigley on the lead right away and despite post eight, they went wire-to-wire to lock up their spot in Friday night’s final.

Since the race has yet to be drawn, we don’t know for sure who will be the contestants for the $40,000-plus final but it should be a good one. Stay tuned for the post draw to make your choice for who will reign supreme for the young trotters.

Saturday night will contain the third final of the week, the Bruce Hamilton Pacing Series finale. Though there were fewer participants in this series, the battle of the boys was sensational on Saturday night. The top point earner Pacey Deucey could head into the final as the favorite. The 4-year-old Brian Cross trainee is coming off back-to-back lifetime marks in the last two series races. What may make Pacey Deucey the one to beat is that he has shown the ability to wire a field (1:54.3) and to out close rivals (1:54.2) en route to his two series victories.

The only other two time winner in the series was Shyguy. The gelding scored his second series victory on Saturday behind a wire- to-wire win for pilot Brian Allen. Shyguy squared off against Pacey Deucey earlier in the season and bested his rival, but Pacey Deucey is now in peak form. These two are the likely ones to beat in the Saturday final.

Look At The Speed (Jay Randall), Kollateral Damage (John Stark, Jr.) and Eckstrom have the points to make the final and the other three spots are so close, they could even come down to a tiebreaker.

Racing is always that much better when the stakes are upped and that is the case this week as the young horses continue to take center stage at Saratoga. The normal “features” will still be contested all week as well with the Fillies and Mares Open on Thursday, trotting Open on Friday and Open Pace on Saturday.