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NYRA announces Whitney-Saratoga Derby Pick 6

by NYRA Press Office

**CORRECTION**
The Whitney-Saratoga Derby Pick 6 will now begin on Saturday with the Grade 1, $500,000 Longines Test in Race 8 at 5:06 p.m. The Test will replace the Grade 3, $200,000 Troy in the two-day Pick 6 wager.

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) today announced the Whitney-Saratoga Derby Pick 6, a special two-day all-stakes wager, kicking off with three races on Saturday's Whitney Day card and concluding on Saratoga Derby Day Sunday at Saratoga Race Course.

The two-day Pick 6, featuring a $0.20 minimum and low 15 percent takeout, includes a mandatory payout.

The sequence kicks off in Saturday's fifth race [3:21 p.m. Eastern] with the Grade 3, $200,000 Troy, a 5 ½-furlong turf sprint for 3-year-olds and upward headlined by multiple Grade 1-winner World of Trouble and the Christophe Clement-trained stalwart sprinters Pure Sensation and Disco Partner.

The second leg is the Grade 1, $1 million Whitney [Race 9, 5:46 p.m.], a Breeders' Cup "Win and You're In" challenge series race offering a berth in the Breeders' Cup Classic on November 2 at Santa Anita Park, featuring Thunder Snow, the world's richest active racehorse with $16,511,746 in purse earnings, looking for his first win in North America. The two-time Group 1 Dubai World winner will have to topple a loaded field of older horses that includes Grade 1-winners McKinzie, Yoshida and Vino Rosso.

The 92nd running of the 1 1/8-mile Whitney will be broadcast nationwide on NBC from 5-6 p.m.

The $100,000 Fasig-Tipton De La Rose, a one-mile turf event for 4-year-olds and up, completes the first half of the two-day Pick 6 sequence.

The two-day Pick 6 concludes on Sunday's Saratoga Derby card, beginning with the fourth leg in Race 5 at 3:21 p.m. with the Grade 3, $200,000 Fasig-Tipton Waya, a 12-furlong turf marathon for fillies and mares 3-years-old and upward, featuring the Chad Brown-trained duo of Fools Gold and Santa Monica.

The penultimate leg will be the inaugural running of the $1 million Saratoga Derby [Race 9, 5:48 p.m.], the second leg of the newly-minted Turf Trinity series for sophomores. Henley's Joy was a three-quarter length winner of the first leg of the Turf Triple series, the $1 million Belmont Derby Invitational, at odds of 20-1.

The third leg of the Turf Trinity, the $1 million Jockey Club Derby at 1 1/2-miles, is slated for September 7 at Belmont Park.

Closing out the lucrative two-day Pick 6 sequence is the Grade 2, $200,000 Adirondack [Race 10, 6:23 p.m.], a 6 ½-furlong sprint for 2-year-old fillies.

The 2019 summer meet at Saratoga Race Course will continue through Labor Day, Monday, September 2. Racing at Saratoga Race Course is held five days a week, Wednesdays through Sundays. Closing week will run Wednesday, August 28 through Labor Day.

For more information about Saratoga Race Course, visit NYRA.com.

About the New York Racing Association (NYRA)

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) holds the exclusive franchise to conduct thoroughbred racing at Aqueduct Racetrack, Belmont Park and Saratoga Race Course. NYRA tracks are the cornerstone of New York State's thoroughbred industry, which is responsible for 19,000 jobs and more than $3 billion in annual economic impact to the State.

Over the course of 219 days of live racing in 2018, NYRA generated more than $2.1 billion in all-sources wagering handle with paid attendance exceeding 1.7 million for the fifth consecutive year.