Today is opening day at the Saratoga Race Track, and I am proud to bring you my first picks of the season. Each horse is run through a formula designed to rank it against its peers in each race. I will give you the top four horses as they are ranked. The goal is to hit the trifecta in each race, so the fourth horse is listed in case one scratches. At the end I'll give my lock of the day and the long shot pick of the day. Good luck!

Race 1
1) Seattle Mission
2) Steal the Shot
3) Leatherhead
4) Mr. Enrico

Race 2
1) Home Rule
2) Holy Place
3) Simply Carina
4) Remark

Race 3
1) Mad For Smarty
2) Bank Merger
3) Bimini
4) Footcandles

Race 4
1) Chef Eric
2) Cozy Lion
3) Morethan Fourhours
4) Sharif Al Medina

Race 5
1) Roderick
2) Whateverittakes
3) City Train
4) Good to Be Me

Race 6
1) Unaccountable
2) African Diamond
3) Stealth Missle
4) Miner Bird

Race 7
1) With the Current
2) Playing Pirates
3) Heavenly Pride
4) Malibu Cougar

Race 8
1) Vinyard Haven
2) Cool Coal Man
3) Discrete Treasure
4) You and I Forever

Race 9
1) Final Mesa
2) Let's Get Fiscal
3) Dos Lunas
4) Show Me the Bling

Race 10
1) Unbridled Fury
2) Adams Circle
3) Hillswitch
4) In Just We Trust

Lock of the Day: Seattle Mission, Race 1
Long Shot Pick of the Day: Unbridled Fury, Race 10
Advice of the day: It is expected to rain at some point tomorrow, and if it does, don't be afraid to bet the longer shots.

Best of luck at the track today. We'll see you tomorrow.

The 17th Annual Earl B. Feiden Siro’s Cup to benefit the Center for Disability Services Foundation will be held on Thursday, July 22. The party, held on the eve of opening day at the Saratoga Race Course, begins at 6:30 p.m., at Siro’s Restaurant, 168 Lincoln Avenue, Saratoga Springs.

At 7 p.m., there will be a presentation to Hall of Fame trainer H. Allen “Chief” Jerkens to honor his contribution to the horse racing industry and salute him for his long and successful career. Jerkens is legendary for sending horses to the starting gate who then upset favored champions. The event will welcome many top jockeys and trainers. Guests will dance to music from the Electric City Horns until 11 p.m. under an open air tent. The evening includes a cocktail buffet and open bar. Siro’s Cup is held rain or shine.

The popular event is a benefit for the Center for Disability Services Foundation in support of Adult Services, Center Health Care & Assistive Technology, Clover Patch Camp, CloverPatch Pre-School, Langan School and St. Margaret’s Center. The Center is a resource for people of all ages who have disabilities or health related conditions. It has a 68 year history in the Capital Region and beyond, and is known as the place where people get better at life.

Tickets are $125 per person by July 21st or $1100 for a group of ten tickets if purchased by July 16th. Advance reservations are strongly encouraged. Walk ins are welcome and tickets at the door are $150. For reservations, call 518-944-2125 or email: pedreira@cfdsny.org

Legendary jockey Gary Stevens will be the keynote speaker at the National Museum of Racing’s 2010 Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Friday, August 13. The ceremony will be held at the newly renovated Fasig-Tipton Sales Pavilion at 10:30 a.m. It is free to the public.

Stevens, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1997, will be the fourth Hall of Fame member – following John Nerud in 1994, D. Wayne Lukas in 2004 and Chris McCarron in 2009 – to accept an invitation to speak at the ceremony.

Stevens, 47, won 5,005 races and had purse earnings of $237,644,302 in a career that spanned from 1979 to 2005. He won the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes three times each and posted two victories in both the Preakness and Travers. Stevens also won a record nine runnings of the Santa Anita Derby and posted eight wins in Breeders’ Cup races.

One of the most popular athletes in the history of Thoroughbred racing, Stevens has enjoyed tremendous success in many endeavors. In 2003, he received critical acclaim for his role as jockey George Woolf in the Academy Award-nominated film “Seabiscuit.” Stevens has also been a popular racing analyst for NBC Sports and Horse Racing Television (HRTV), and recently signed on for a role in HBO’s upcoming racetrack series “Luck,” which will also star Dustin Hoffman and Nick Nolte. He also has authored a book about his life, The Perfect Ride.

Stevens was born March 6, 1963 in Caldwell, Idaho. He began his riding career at age 16 in his home state at Les Bois Park in Boise. Stevens quickly became a top rider in Washington and then found success in California. In 1993, he became the youngest jockey to surpass $100 million in earnings. In 1996, Stevens won the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award. He won the Mike Venezia Memorial Award in 1999. Stevens earned the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey in 1998, the year after his Hall of Fame induction.

Stevens won the Kentucky Derby with Winning Colors (1988), Thunder Gulch (1995) and Silver Charm (1997); the Preakness Stakes with Silver Charm (1997) and Point Given (2001); and the Belmont with Thunder Gulch (1995), Victory Gallop (1998) and Point Given (2001).

- Courtesy National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame

Six horses, two jockeys and two trainers are finalist nominees for election to the National Museum of Racing’s Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Under the revised format announced earlier, all the candidates are grouped together rather than being divided into categories.

Voters will be asked to vote for as many as four and are not required to include one from each type of candidate. The four with the highest number of votes will be elected. The nominees were selected by the Hall of Fame Nominating Committee from a total of 76 candidates suggested throughout the year by turf journalists, Thoroughbred industry participants and racing fans.

The nominees include contemporary female horses, contemporary male horses, jockeys and trainers. To be eligible, trainers must have been active for 25 years and jockeys must have been active for 20 years. Horses must have been retired for five years. All must have been active within the past 25 years. A separate Historic Review Committee is assigned to consider participants from farther back in history.

The nominees for 2010 are: Azeri, Best Pal, trainer Gary Jones, Open Mind, Point Given, jockey Randy Romero, Safely Kept, Sky Beauty, jockey Alex Solis and trainer Robert Wheeler.

Click here to take the Class of 2010 survey

The Saratoga Convention and Tourism Bureau is holding their annual golf classic on May 19 at Saratoga National Golf Club.

This year’s event is offer ing the opportunity to make a monetary contribution to sup
port the Saratoga Backstretch Workers at the Saratoga Race Course.

The golf classic is a networking opportunity for Bureau members and brings meeting planner clients to Saratoga to experience all the city has to offer as a destination.

Business support comes in the form of sponsoring a hole, donating a prize/gift certificate and making a monetary donation to Backstretch Employee Service Team of New York, Inc. (B.E.S.T.), an organization supporting back stretch workers.

The Bureau is committed to helping the community and would like to recognize all the hard working employees of our city’s historic landmark racetrack.

Registration for the tournament opens at 11 a.m., shotgun tee-off at 1 p.m., and concludes with a reception featuring awards and prizes from 6 to 7:30 p.m.

The entire event is open to Bureau members and non-members. You can choose to attend the golf portion, the reception only, or both.

The tournament will proceed rain or shine unless the course is closed.

To register for the annual golf classic online, visit www.discoversaratoga.org or to request a printed invitation, call the Bureau at (518) 584-1531. Kindly R.S.V.P. by May 12.

Capital Region handicappers and racing analysts Nick Kling, Seth Merrow and Jeanne Wood will be featured in the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame’s annual Countdown to the Triple Crown program at 2 p.m. on Sunday, April 25.

The popular program in the Museum’s Hall of Fame Gallery includes video
highlights from important prep races and audience-driven discussions with the panel.

Admission is free and each person attending will receive a complimentary issue of the Triple Crown past performances issue published by Daily Racing Form, a complimentary copy of the Thoroughbred Times’ Triple Crown Preview issue and a complimentary copy of the most recent edition of the Blood-Horse.

The 136th running of the Kentucky Derby will take place on Saturday, May 1. The 135th Preakness is scheduled for Saturday, May 15. The final leg of the Triple Crown series, the 142nd Belmont Stakes, will be run on Saturday, June 5.

Kling has been the Thoroughbred columnist and handicapper for The Record newspaper in Troy since 1998. Prior to that he held the same position with the Amsterdam Recorder. He has been the co-host of Capital OTB’s Trackfacts since 1992. In addition, he has written for The Saratogian, Post Time USA, Horseplayer Magazine and Wizard Productions.

Merrow is the founder and publisher of Equidaily.com, recently called “the single best source of horse racing news on the Internet” in an article listing Web sites of interest to racing fans. Merrow is a regular contributor to Capital OTB-TV as an analyst and handicapper. He also appears weekly on Sirius Satellite Radio’s “At the Races with Steve Byk.”

Wood began working with and riding horses as a child. An employee of Capital OTB since 1998, Wood has more than 25 years of experience with horses. She has hosted numerous handicapping seminars and has previously served on the National Museum of Racing’s Countdown to the Triple Crown panel.

Brien Bouyea, the Museum’s communications officer, will be the host of the program.
Video of the key prep races is being provided by Capital OTB.

Check our Web site at www.racingmuseum.org

Twenty years after his tearful acceptance speech, jockey Chris McCarron will be the guest speaker at the 2009 Hall of Fame induction ceremony August 14.

McCarron, 54, was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1989 near the midpoint of an honors-filled 28-year riding career. Among his 7,141 victories are six wins in Triple Crown races and nine wins in the Breeders’ Cup.

The founder and executive director of the North American Racing Academy in Lexington, Ky., McCarron is the third Hall of Fame member – following John Nerud in 1994 and D. Wayne Lukas in 2004 – to accept an invitation to speak at the ceremony.

“I’m incredibly flattered and excited about it,” McCarron said. “To be able to stand up in front of a group of esteemed individuals, people who have been involved in the racing industry for decades, as well as the fans who have supported the game for a long period of time, is a true honor.

“I really feel blessed to be able to share my thoughts and insights about racing and my school and the need for a place for young men and women to train how to take on the tremendous responsibility of riding a Thoroughbred.”

During his career, McCarron won virtually every major race in North America. His Kentucky Derby victories came on Alysheba in 1987 and Go for Gin in 1994. Five of the Breeders’ Cup wins came in the Classic, including back-to-back victories on Tiznow, who was elected to the Hall of Fame this year.

When he retired, McCarron was the career leader in purse money earned, $264 million, and ranked sixth in victories.

Following his retirement, McCarron was the general manager at Santa Anita Park for nearly two years. He has extensive experience as a television racing commentator, worked as technical advisor and played a role in the movie “Seabiscuit” and founded the school for jockeys. In 1987, McCarron, his wife Judy and comedian Tim Conway co-founded the Donald MacBeth Memorial Jockey Fund, which assists disabled jockeys and their families.

More can be found on the Racing Hall of Fame's web-site.