Happy hoping to have it his way in Alfred G. Vanderbilt

Happy My Way, with four impressive victories in his last five starts, can

prove he is one of the top sprinters in the country with a victory in Saturday's

Grade 1, $350,000

Alfred G.

Vanderbilt Handicap at

Saratoga.

Trained by Joe Orseno, the four-year-old Wilko gelding turned in a breakout

performance last December when beating second-level allowance foes at

Gulfstream. After a minor setback in the Sunshine Millions Sprint, where he

finished second, Happy My Way has reeled off three straight, including 5

3/4-length scores in the Sir Shackleton at Gulfstream and the Maryland Sprint

Handicap on the Preakness undercard at Pimlico.

Unraced since that May 17 dash over the Vanderbilt distance of six furlongs,

Happy My Way is a threat to lead throughout under Joe Bravo. On paper, only two

rivals seem like a serious threat to keep Happy My Way honest. Bakken, a veteran

of only four starts, won his first two starts gate-to-wire and pressed the pace

in the True North Handicap last time before settling for second. The other,

Gulfstream Park Sprint Championship hero Falling Sky, is cross-entered Saturday

to a stakes at Mountaineer.

A fast, contested pace would help a number of contenders. Bahamian Squall,

runner-up in the 2013 Vanderbilt following a score in the Smile Sprint Handicap

at Calder, recently returned from a seventh-month layoff. Third in the $90,000

Housebuster at Gulfstream on July 5, the David Fawkes charge figures to be much

sharper second off the bench.

Palace, who counts wins in the True North Handicap and Fall Highweight

Handicap, is another threat from mid-pack. He enters off a distant second-place

finish in the seven-furlong Belmont Sprint Championship to Clearly Now, who

finished up seven furlongs in a blistering 1:19 4/5.

Capo Bastone upset the course-and-distance King's Bishop at odds of 28-1 last

August, but the Todd Pletcher trainee has done little of note since. Lemon Drop

Dream, winner of the Count Fleet Sprint Handicap at Oaklawn, was second to Happy

My Way at Pimlico but only fifth in a grass stakes at Evangeline Downs last

time. Vyjack, a dual graded stakes winner around two turns as a three-year-old,

shortens up after being eased in the 1 1/4-mile Suburban Handicap on July 5.

Grade 1-winning New York-bred Dayatthespa will put her perfect record over

the Saratoga turf on the line Saturday in the $100,000

De La Rose

going a mile on the inner course. Unraced since finishing fourth in the

Matriarch at Hollywood Park in December, the five-year-old City Zip mare has a

won a stakes each of the last two Saratoga meets -- the $100,000 Riskaverse in

2012 and $150,000 Yaddo for state-breds last year.

Restricted to fillies and mares that have not won a graded stakes in 2014,

the De La Rose has attracted another graded stakes veteran in Pianist. Like

Dayatthespa, Pianist is trained by Chad Brown, who saddled the mare to Grade 3

wins in the Gallorette Handicap at Pimlico and Athenia at Belmont last term.

Other leading contenders are the Bill Mott-trained Filimbi, a French stakes

winner who beat allowances foes when last seen May 21; Ready Signal, a two-time

stakes winner at Gulfstream earlier this year; Baffle Me, fifth in the 2013 De

La Rose prior to winning three stakes at Belmont and Gulfstream; Alaura Michele,

third in the Dr. James Penny Memorial at Parx last time; and Joy, an 11-1 upset

winner of the $95,000 Perfect Sting over yielding ground at Belmont on

Independence Day.

Big Blue Kitten, who notched Grade 1 scores last season in the United Nations

at Monmouth and Sword Dancer at Saratoga, headlines the $100,000

Lure over 1

1/16 miles on the inner turf. Subsequently second by a nose in the Joe Hirsch

Turf Classic, Big Blue Kitten has not been out since finishing a sub-par eighth

in the Breeders' Cup Turf in November.

Restricted to horses that have not won a graded stakes in 2014, the Lure has

also attracted the Grade 3 turf winners Swift Warrior and Rogue Romance; 2013

Bernard Baruch runner-up Paris Vegas; 2013 Knickerbocker runner-up Plainview;

and the capable New York-bred performer Kharafa.

Among those entered for the main track only is Alpha, dead-heat winner of the

2012 Travers and outright victor of the 2013 Woodward.

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