ITM Telegraph — Two Grade 1s, a Qualifier, and a Carryover | Saturday, July 25, 2026

In The Money Telegraph

Saturday, July 25, 2026 · By ITM Staff

Two Grade 1s, a Breeders’ Cup seat on the line in our own Qualifier, a $192K carryover still live at Del Mar, and a Classic winner shipping to Ascot. Big Saturday.

Championship Saturday: Two Grade 1s and a Seat to Win

The CCA Oaks (Saratoga). The Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks was set up as a three-way argument, but it lost a player late: La Rascasse — PTF’s each-way pick in his Sky Sports Racing guide — was scratched Friday by trainer Will Walden after a training setback, and heads to the farm with a target of returning next year. That leaves a field of eight built squarely around the rubber match between Kentucky Oaks winner Always A Runner and Acorn winner Counting Stars, level at a win apiece, with Zany (in from the Monmouth Oaks, Repole’s call) and Directive among those hoping to upset the favorites. It goes as Race 10, at approximately 5:45 p.m. ET, on FOX via Saratoga Live. PTF’s guide →

PTF and JK talk the whole Saratoga card — the Pick 6 sequence, the Vanderbilt, and the Oaks — on the Saturday preview show. On the feature, JK leans to Always A Runner, armed with a bit of inside info after time spent with Chad Brown this week, who feels the filly is in a much better place mentally than she was when Counting Stars turned the tables in the Acorn. ▶  Watch the Saratoga preview →

The Bing Crosby (Del Mar). The Grade 1 sprint (Race 10, 9:30 p.m. ET, on FanDuel TV) is a “Win and You’re In” to the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, and it split the ITM house three ways — PTF and Jackson Muniz on Dr. Venkman, Mikee P. on Cornucopian, Ryan Anderson on Listenupshance. Dean Keppler makes it Cornucopian on top. When the room can’t agree, the payoffs tend to be worth chasing. PTF’s preview →  |  The Gallop Out →

There’s a Grade 2 in the mix too: the Alfred G. Vanderbilt (Race 9), a six-furlong dirt sprint headed by the sharp Built, adds another strong betting heat to the Saratoga afternoon — and PTF and JK are both on the favorite.

Contest Day: Your Shot at a Breeders’ Cup Seat

The ITM Tour BCBC Qualifier. Yesterday’s feeder sent its top finishers through to today’s Qualifier on HorsePlayers.com — win it, and a $10,000 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge seat is yours. Seven Fridays down, 28 of the 68 Playoff spots claimed, and the road to the fall keeps rolling.

The Del Mar Summer Betting Challenge. If you’re at the seaside oval, the live-money challenge runs today and tomorrow with an estimated $250,000 in prizes, including BCBC and NHC seats. It’s a $6,000 buy-in, on-track only — and the Bing Crosby is a Race 10 swing race for anyone playing. Details →

NYRA Bets. The Spa’s biggest game of the week: a $300 contest with a $2,500 seeded pool, plus an $80 feeder to the $1,000 Jim Dandy Challenge next Saturday, Aug. 1. See the games →

Del Mar: Keppler’s Card, and a Carryover Still Live

Dean Keppler has the full Bing Crosby Day card, with 10-Ventry Strand in Race 7 his best bet — a lightly raced sophomore taking on older who should get the pace to close into. Note too that Friday’s big Del Mar Pick 6 carryover, if it went unsolved, would roll forward again today, so it’s worth checking the pools before you play. Read the card →

And From Ascot: the King George

Early risers, take note: the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot — one of the great middle-distance races in the world and itself a “Win and You’re In” to the Breeders’ Cup Turf — goes this morning at approximately 10:35 a.m. ET, live on FS1. Last year’s winner, Calandagan, is back to defend among a top-class international field.

Also Today: the Monmouth Oaks

Monmouth runs its own signature race for 3-year-old fillies, the Grade 3 Monmouth Oaks (Race 7), though it lost its headliner when Zany opted for Saratoga. Eric Solomon has the full card (first post 12:50 p.m. ET) and lands on Pashmina, with Jorge Vargas Jr. up, to get herself right after a tough spring — over Black-Eyed Susan winner My Miss Mo. Worth a footnote: runner-up contender Point of Reference chased home none other than La Rascasse at Churchill last month. Read the card →

Also Today: Graded Stakes at Woodbine

It’s a strong stakes Saturday north of the border too, and Mikee P. — fresh off his own Tour qualifying run — is joined by Ray Cotolo to attack a late Pick 4 loaded with three graded races for fillies. If you like getting into the rhythm of a track you can actually read, Woodbine is a good one to follow all weekend. ▶  Watch the Woodbine preview →

Looking to Sunday

Don’t put the Del Mar form away Saturday night. Sunday brings the Grade 2 Eddie Read, and it sets up as a proper duel between two seaside-oval specialists, Formidable Man and Gold Phoenix — each a five-time stakes winner at Del Mar — who now have to get past each other and a few well-credentialed rivals.

And a good cause to note: Sunday evening brings jockey karaoke in support of the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund at Belly Up in Solana Beach — fitting on a weekend that opened with PDJF Awareness Day at the Spa. Further out, Little Red Feather’s LRF Cares golf tournament goes Monday, Aug. 24 at Lomas Santa Fe.

More all weekend at inthemoneypodcast.com, with daily previews on the ITM YouTube channel and premium tips on ITM Plus.