Test Score tops trio of top-flight winners in G1 Saratoga Derby Invitational
At 0h05, on August 2, 2025 • By Saratoga Race Course
A deft and dynamic field of runners from each side of the Atlantic will assemble for Saturday’s Grade 1, $750,000 Saratoga Derby Invitational over 1 3/16 miles of the Mellon turf, topped by a trio of top-flight winners. Chief among those is Amerman Racing’s Kentucky homebred Test Score, last-out winner of the Grade 1 Belmont Derby Invitational on July 4 here for conditioner Graham Motion.
For the third consecutive year, per a partnership between the New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) and Moonee Valley Racing Club, the race’s winner will receive an automatic berth into the prestigious Group 1, AUD$6 million Ladbrokes Cox Plate, set to take place on October 25. State of Rest captured the 2021 Saratoga Derby and went on to win the Cox Plate.
A son of Champion Lookin At Lucky, Test Score became a millionaire with his last out victory, his third from eight starts, coming on the heels of an excellent second in the Grade 1 American Turf. Asserting himself in the final furlong under Manny Franco, the bay colt landed his second stakes in the process, following his tally in Keeneland’s Grade 3 Transylvania on April 7. Franco has the return call from post 5.
“It wasn’t my original plan to go into the Saratoga Derby, but it just made sense,” Motion said. “It’s a Grade 1 and he just won up here on the course. I also think the added distance here will help.
“He’s pretty classy in the morning,” Motion added. “Although a good feeling 3-year-old colt who wants to get a little wound up in the paddock.”
The Saratoga Derby is slated as Race 9 on Saturday’s 13-race card, which is headlined by the Grade 1, $1 million Whitney in Race 11. A stacked program also includes the Grade 2, $200,000 Saratoga Special in Race 3, the Grade 1, $750,000 FanDuel Fourstardave in Race 8 and the Grade 1, $500,000 Test presented by Ticketmaster in Race 10. First post is 12:05 p.m. Eastern.
