2023 Test Stakes Preview

The $500,000 Test Stakes, run on Saturday, August 5 at Saratoga, is the feature race of the sprint division for three-year-old fillies. The field this year features eight horses, including Pretty Mischievous, the Kentucky Oaks (G1) winner who is turning back to seven furlongs after a successful outing over the one-turn 1 1/16 miles in the Acorn (G1) at Belmont Park. Her seven foes include a mix of well-proven runners like Munnys Gold and Dorth Vader as well as newer faces who are trying to make a mark in the upper echelon of their division.

2023 Test Stakes Information

• Race Date: Saturday, August 5
• Track: Saratoga Race Course
• Post Time: 4:26 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time
• Distance: seven furlongs
• Age/Sex: three-year-old fillies
• Where to Watch: TVG.com, Fox Sports
• Where to Bet: TVG.com and FanDuel Racing

Test Stakes Draw and Odds

This is the full field for the 2023 edition of the Test Stakes, including post positions, trainers, jockeys, and morning-line odds.

Test Stakes Prep Race Results

The field for the Test comes from five different prep races. Two of them are graded stakes, each of which sends more than one runner into the Test.

The first, second, and fourth-place finishers from the Acorn (G1) at Belmont Park on Belmont Stakes weekend all return in the Test. Pretty Mischievous, the Kentucky Oaks winner, backed up her form in Kentucky with a gutsy score in New York, where she held off a determined Dorth Vader by a head. Dorth Vader turns up in the Test, as does Munnys Gold, who made the early running but faded to fourth.

Two runners from the Victory Ride (G3) on July 8 at Belmont Park return in the Test as well. Maple Leaf Mel remained undefeated after five career starts with a gate-to-wire win in the Victory Ride. Interpolate, who had to overcome a less-than-perfect beginning, was a well-beaten fourth.

The other three entrants in the Test come from ungraded races. The only other horse coming from a stakes race is Tappin Josie, who was most recently third against fellow Pennsylvania-breds in a muddy, off-turf edition of the Power By Far at Parx. Jersey Pearl comes out of a gate-to-wire win against second-level allowance company at Ellis, including older mares, while Clearly Unhinged was last seen winning a first-level allowance sprint for sophomore fillies at Santa Anita.

Test Stakes Contenders

These are the eight runners in the 2023 Test Stakes, organized by post position.

1. Pretty Mischievous: The Kentucky Oaks winner held her form well in the Acorn, denying a gutsy Dorth Vader. She has never run a bad race in eight starts, with six wins and two other graded placings to her name so far. She looms as the class of the field and has good tactical pace, though the question for her is the sprint trip. She has won at seven furlongs before, over the slop at Churchill, but that was in a first-level allowance last year. The win over the one-turn 1 1/16 miles was a step in the right direction, but at short odds, she stands to be underlaid against true sprinters.
2. Clearly Unhinged: She cedes experience to the rest of the field, as she has only run three times. She was defeated in the two-turn Santa Anita Oaks (G2), though she won both of her sprint starts to date. The question is class, as both of those six-and-a-half-furlong victories came against non-stakes company: a maiden special weight and an N1X. On the other hand, this is Michael McCarthy we’re talking about. He does so well with shippers, particularly shippers taking class rises, that if he flies a first-level allowance winner cross-country for a Grade 1, they often outrun their odds.
3. Tappin Josie: With 14 starts, she is the most experienced horse in the field, and she doe shave tactical speed. However, this Mid-Atlantic fixture has yet to prove the kind of class that most of the horses she will face here have shown. She was eased against softer company in her only previous seven-furlong start, and she has been defeated by state-bred stakes company in her last two starts. Even though that last start came against older, it still came back too slow to make her a factor here.
4. Jersey Pearl: One of the newer faces in the field, she has run just six times, and only three times on dirt. However, all three of her wins have come in those starts on conventional dirt, suggesting that’s the surface where she belongs. Class is the question, as she has never tried graded company before. But, she routed a second-level allowance against older in fast fashion last out, giving her upside. Though that came on the front end, she won two back in stalk-and-pounce style, which is a positive given the 1-2 speed punch of Munnys Gold and Maple Leaf Mel to her outside. She also has plenty of pedigree to suggest the extra furlong will play to her strengths.
5. Interpolate: Perhaps a less-than-good start left her without enough to make a better run on Maple Leaf Mel in the Victory Ride last out; this would explain Chad Brown keeping the faith and running her back in a Grade 1 off of that effort. She showed promise at seven furlongs with a win in the Ruthless and a second in the Beaumont (G2), and she had enough trouble in her debut at Saratoga to mean it can’t be determined if she likes the track or not. All in all, she still has upside to improve,
6. but she has a good chance of being overbet just because she is trained by Chad Brown.
7. Dorth Vader: She tried hard in both the Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2) and the Kentucky Oaks (G1), but her excellent efforts in the Davona Dale (G2) and the Acorn make it clear that she is an extended one-turn horse. In terms of pace, she should be able to get a good trip stalking behind the two speed demons drawn outside of her. Her Acorn win proved she is more than just a Gulfstream Park horse as well, and she reunited with John Velazquez after that effort. Expect her to rate, rally, and be in the frame late.
8. Munnys Gold: She looked like a world-beater after three very fast wins against softer company, but she has yet to capture top honors in a pair of graded starts. Toss the Acorn; that was probably too long for her. Her Eight Belles (G2) was much better: it covered seven furlongs, and although it looked like Red Carpet Ready had beaten her, she came back to reengage that foe and missed by only a head. That grit could serve her well against this even better company, especially since she is either going to have to battle early with Maple Leaf Mel or fight against some later runners approaching the wire.
9. Maple Leaf Mel: We still do not know how good she is, and perhaps we find out here. This New York-bred has won all five of her career starts, including a pair of races against fellow runners bred in the Empire State last year at Saratoga. After three wins against state-breds she has blossomed into a true graded stakes horse, winning the Miss Preakness (G3) at Pimlico and then the Victory Ride at Belmont. Seven furlongs is a question; even though she has never gone that far, she looked good at six and a half, and form over that trip tends to translate well. Though, the bigger question is pace: she can get a clean trip from the outside, but she is drawn directly next to Munnys Gold: another horse who, like her, prefers to step on the gas and dare the rest to catch her.

Test Stakes FAQ

Q: When is the Test Stakes?
A: The Test Stakes happens on Saturday, August 5, 2023, at 4:26 Eastern Daylight Time. It is carded as the eighth of 12 races, and the first of three at the Grade 1 level.

Q: Where is the Test Stakes?
A: The race happens at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York.

Q: Which trainer has the most wins in the Test Stakes?
A: Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons won the Test five times between 1928 and 1963. Among trainers entered in the 2023 edition of the Test, Todd Pletcher leads in wins with 2, with Jersey Girl (1998) and Marley Vale (1999). He sends out Munny’s Gold in 2023. The only other trainer in the field who has won the Test before is Chad Brown (Interpolate), who won in 2018 with Separationofpowers.

Q: Who is the favorite for the Test Stakes?
A: Pretty Mischievous, the Kentucky Oaks winner, is the 9-5 morning-line favorite for the Test. Respect action on proven sprinters like Maple Leaf Mel or Munnys Gold, especially if one of them threatens for post-time favoritism, though on the strength of wins in the Oaks and the Acorn, Pretty Mischievous is likely to hold as the chalk.

Q: Who is the best Test Stakes jockey?
A: Jerry Bailey, now retired, leads all riders with six wins in the Test between 1988 and 2003. Among jockeys with a call in the Test this year, John Velazquez leads with four wins, most recently in 2020 with Gamine. He takes the call on Dorth Vader this year.

Q: Who won the Test Stakes in 2022?
A: Chi Town Lady upset the 2022 Test for trainer Westley Ward and jockey Joel Rosario. Neither Ward nor Rosario are present in this year’s edition.