Appleby seeks Saratoga breakthrough with Pacific Avenue and Abashiri

Charlie Appleby will try to make Saratoga his latest transatlantic stronghold on Saturday, July 4, when Pacific Avenue and Abashiri run in the $750,000 Belmont Derby and the $600,000 Belmont Oaks at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York. The two Grade 1s sit at the center of the opening weekend of the 2026 Saratoga summer meet, which opened Friday, July 3, and runs through Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 7.

For Appleby, the weekend offers a chance to change the shape of his Saratoga record rather than simply add to it. He won the Belmont Oaks in 2024 with Cinderella’s Dream, who finished in 1:53.42 over 1 3/16 miles at Belmont at the Big A, but he has never won the Belmont Derby. BloodHorse counts Appleby with a dozen Breeders’ Cup victories and 19 other Grade 1 wins in the United States and Canada, a résumé that explains why his North American runners are taken so seriously.

Abashiri gives him a real shot at another Oaks trophy. The Daily Racing Form said the filly had placed in the English 1000 Guineas and Irish 1000 Guineas before her North American debut, and that she was expected to go off as a likely favorite. NYRA lists the Belmont Oaks as a $600,000 race for 3-year-old fillies foaled after Aug. 1, 2022 and before July 31, 2023, run at 1 1/8 miles on the inner turf. BloodHorse’s preview noted that European-trained fillies have won four of the last eight runnings, a reminder that the race has often rewarded the same kind of profile Appleby is bringing in.

Pacific Avenue has a different path but the same value for the barn. BloodHorse identifies the colt as a Godolphin-owned, IRE-bred gray trained by Appleby, and his form against Title Role gives the Derby real substance beyond stable reputation. The Derby is also at 1 1/8 miles on turf, and like the Oaks it is part of a Saratoga stakes schedule that features more than 70 stakes worth more than $23 million across the meet.

A sweep would turn the two races into one statement about Appleby’s ability to ship elite turf horses and win immediately on American grass. A split would still leave him with another major Saratoga opportunity, but it would also underline how demanding these summer tests remain even for a trainer whose North American strike rate once climbed as high as 50 percent in 2021.