The decision Todd Pletcher would have eventually made would have been intriguing. Yet thanks to a recent high temperature and a subsequent missed work, Rags to Riches will now be forced to pass the July 21 CCA Oaks at Belmont Park, and will now point to a start in the Aug. 18 Alabama at the Spa – and not the Travers as had previously been under consideration.

While the development makes NYRA Stakes Coordinator Andrew Byrnes’ job easier (not having to find rivals willing to challenge the Belmont Stakes winning filly this weekend), it also stregthens the stakes program at Saratoga.

Rags to Riches is now slated to run in the Alabama, one of the most prestigious races run all season for 3-year-old fillies, and the following weekend will be the Travers, where Street Sense, Curlin, and Any Given Saturday seem poised to clash.

Pletcher had mentioned running AGS in the Haskell as his summer-time goal of achieving a Grade 1, reasoning ‘Rags’ would then have five weeks from the CCA Oaks prior to the Travers — which afforded better spacing. Yet with Rags to Riches now targeting the Alabama, Any Given Saturday — who certainly looks like a major threat during the second half of this season following a rousing win in the Dwyer on July 4 — AGS can now use the Jim Dandy as a springboard to the Travers — a route taken by the Pletcher-trained Flower Alley a few seasons ago.