Though the Saratoga Derby Invitational was being run for the first time and is not a graded stakes race, it nonetheless felt like the feature on Sunday at Saratoga Race Course.

Perhaps it was the $1 million purse. Perhaps it was the field of 11 horses, including two trained by Aidan O’Brien. Perhaps it was because it is the second in a new three-race series for three-year-olds on the turf, created by the New York Racing Association.

Whatever it was, 13-1 chance A Thread of Blue won it, and $535,000 along with it.

Continue reading at Brisnet.com, for more on the Saratoga Derby, the Adirondack Stakes, and the Waya Stakes.

Perfect Alibi and Irad Ortiz Jr. NYRA/Susie Raisher