Bowling Green Stakes Presented By Emerald Evocations - (G2)
Saratoga - 11th July 2026
When a Grade 2 race on the turf returns with finishing speeds above 106% for all 6 runners, it’s probably not surprising to learn that the winner made every yard of the running. This was a 2nd victory at this level for OLE CRAZY BONE who also won the KTDF Kentucky Turf Cup Invitational Stakes at Keeneland back in September. After a pleasing return at Churchill Downs at the end of May, he was clearly primed and ready for this assignment and after breaking quickly from his ideal draw in stall 1 and once in front Flavien Prat had very few moments of real concern.
The fastest horse over the opening quarter of a mile in a time of 25.06s, he was able to dictate with the Ed Walker trained Fort George sitting on his hind quarters. The pace dropped considerably and the winner recorded a time as slow as 12.8s for the 6th furlong. This race developed into a 3 furlong sprint and as a result Ole Crazy Bone was perfectly positioned to hold on, despite the fact that his final 3 furlong splits ranked 2nd, 2nd and 4th. As our summary of the in-race metrics above shows, Ole Crazy Bone did not rank 1st for any of the speed metrics and as a result, the connections of the placed horses can perhaps feel slightly aggrieved with the way the race panned out. Fort George was having his first start since running in Dubai over the winter and did at least make the trip worthwhile for Ed Walker and Kieran Shoemark with a battling display. He found Rebel’s Romance and Ombudsman were in a different league in Dubai, but he did win the G3 Dubai Millennium Stakes at the end of January, which adds a certain degree of context to this form. The pair recorded identical stride frequency averages and their average stride lengths had less than 0.05 ft between them. Ultimately the difference between the pair was the ability of Ole Crazy Bone to lengthen his stride. At a peak average of 25.85 ft, the winner was able to find an extra 1.56 ft above his race average stride length, an increase of 6%. By contrast, Fort George reached a peak of just 24.86 ft, an increase of just 0.61 ft on his race average figure (3%). It’s a minor point and the only significant difference between the pair on the data that I could find, but in such a slowly run affair, it was only ever going to be a small margin that would separate them. However, whilst I can’t make a case that Fort George was unlucky, the same cannot be said for the 3rd placed Minaret Station.
William Walden’s charge is yet to win in 3 starts in 2026, but on each occasion he has recorded the fastest run-out speed in the field. Finishing speeds of 103.7, 106.3 and now 108.9% haven’t helped his cause and the tight nature of the turf tracks in the US will always leave a horse like this slightly vulnerable. Even with that allowance, his closing data is worthy of some further attention and there will be a day for this son of Instilled Regard when the early pace is strong enough to give him a chance of running down the leaders. A late speed figure of 40.52 mph was a clear best and he was the only horse to average above 40 mph for the final quarter of a mile. That coincided with a race best closing furlong of 10.98s, more than half a second quicker than the winner as he flew home to be beaten by less than a length. He’s a very compact colt with a short stride that recorded an average below 23.5 ft, but he has an explosive turn-of-foot and a top speed of 42 mph was over 2% faster than any of the other runners. Having been 0.7s behind at halfway, he gave himself a lot to do and once Jose Ortiz got him through the gap on the inside, he did close rapidly but the line simply came 50 yards too soon. The winning time of 2:14.18 actually ranked 3rd in the last 10 renewals, but a slow opening half a mile helped to ensure that the circumstances were against Minaret Station. I went back into the TPD archives to look at every turf race run beyond a mile at Saratoga since the start of 2023 and I found only 1 horse (from a sample of 55 races) who had recorded a better late speed figure than Minaret Station. His closing data clearly means that he needs to be added to the tracker, but only with a considerable note of caution that he will need a stronger pace to give him a chance of going 2 places better.