Saratoga Racing Tips: Mark Milligan fancies Powerful pair

Saratoga 17:37: Powerful 1pt win at 7/4 or better

Saturday's Saratoga action features two horses making their second career starts who should both improve markedly second time up.

The first of them, Powerful, hails from the Steve Asmussen barn and was sent off favourite for a maiden over 6f here in July, where he seemed a little outpaced mid-race before really finishing with a rattle to be beaten only a head.

A $525k son of Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist, the selection shaped there as if he already needed an extra furlong and that's something he gets to work with in this contest.

Although Asmussen trainees invariably know their job first time up, the feeling is that Powerful just needed that initial experience before the penny began to drop late on.

He should take all the beating with run under his belt.

Up To The Mark an exciting prospect

Saratoga 18:12: Up To The Mark 2pts win at 7/4 or better

The third race on the card is an interesting allowance contest featuring several horses who could yet make their mark at a higher level, none more so than Todd Pletcher's Up To The Mark.

Debuting over 6f at this track last month, he seemed to find that trip a bit on the sharp side, having to be coaxed along by Irad Ortiz before finding his best stride late on and clearing away to win by over 4 lengths in the end.

His speed figure was a very good one for a debutant and the chances are he can improve significantly on this second start, particularly as the step up to 1m looks sure to work in his favour.

The sky could well be the limit for this son of Not This Time and I'll be disappointed if he can't get the job done here, for all that the waters are deeper than in his maiden win.