SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- Eclipse Award winners Goodnight Olive and Echo Zulu, who finished first and second in last November’s Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, will square off again in Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Ballerina Handicap, among the highlights of the Travers Day undercard. Echo Zulu, the champion 2-year-old filly of 2021, has won eight of 10 career starts. She comes in off a monster 7 1/4-length victory in the Grade 2 Honorable Miss Handicap here on July 26 for which she earned a career-best 112 Beyer Speed Figure. Goodnight Olive, who has also won 8 of 10 starts, has not raced since she won the Grade 2 Bed o’ Roses over Wicked Halo in June at Belmont. Wicked Halo, also entered in the Ballerina, is cross-entered in Friday’s $250,000 Pink Ribbon Stakes at Charles Town. Echo Zulu drew post 6 and Goodnight Olive drew post 7 in the eight-horse Ballerina, which goes as race 10 on the 13-race card. The Ballerina winner earns a fees-paid berth into the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint. :: DRF's 2023 Saratoga headquarters: Previews, past performances, picks, recaps, news, and more. Also entered in the Ballerina were, from the inside, Sterling Silver, Matareya, Maryquitecontrary, Dr B, Wicked Halo, and Caramel Swirl. Elite Power-Gunite, part deux Elite Power and Gunite, separated by a head when finishing 1-2 in the Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap here on July 29, will meet again in Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Forego at seven furlongs. Elite Power, trained by Bill Mott, has won eight consecutive races, a streak that began on June 5, 2022. He won the Breeders’ Cup Sprint last fall to clinch the Eclipse Award as champion sprinter. This year he is 3 for 3 with victories in the Riyadh Dirt Sprint, Grade 2 True North, and the Vanderbilt. Gunite, trained by Steve Asmussen, finished second to Elite Power in Riyadh, was third in the Golden Shaheen in Dubai, and won the Aristides Stakes at Churchill before his narrow defeat in the Vanderbilt. Gunite breaks from post 2 under Tyler Gaffalione while Elite Power will break from post 3 under Irad Ortiz Jr. High Oak, the 2021 Saratoga Special winner, drew the rail. Pipeline and Synthesis are in posts 4 and 5, respectively. Baffert pair, New York Thunder top Jerkens Trainer Bob Baffert has the pair of stakes winners Arabian Lion and Fort Bragg in from Southern California to take on the undefeated and freakishly fast New York Thunder in the Grade 1 $500,000 H. Allen Jerkens for 3-year-olds at seven furlongs. Arabian Lion is coming off wins in the Sir Barton Stakes at Pimlico in May and the Grade 1 Woody Stephens at Belmont in June. Fort Bragg, who was forced to scratch from the Woody Stephens after getting sick upon shipping in from California that week, came back to win the Grade 3 Dwyer by a nose over Saudi Crown. That horse came back to run a monster race in the Grade 2 Jim Dandy, losing by a nose to Forte. New York Thunder made his first start on dirt a winning one, galloping to a 7 1/2-length victory in the Grade 2 Amsterdam after winning two races on synthetic and one on turf. Drew’s Gold, runner-up to Arabian Lion in the Woody Stephens, drew the rail. He is followed by One In Vermillion, Verifying, Fort Bragg, New York Thunder, and Arabian Lion. Channel Maker in Saratoga swan song The 9-year-old Channel Maker will make the 11th and final Saratoga start of his career when he runs in the Grade 1, $750,000 Sword Dancer. :: Visit the Saratoga Handicapping Store for Past Performances, Clocker Reports, Picks, Betting Strategies, and more. This will be the sixth consecutive year in which Channel Maker is running in the Sword Dancer. He won the race in 2020, the year he was voted North America’s male turf champion. Channel Maker is coming off a two-length front-running score in the Grade 2 Bowling Green Stakes. Channel Maker will take on a field that includes Soldier Rising, Verstappen, Bolshoi Ballet, Daunt, Pioneering Spirit, and Stone Age. Pioneering Spirit scratched out of Wednesday’s $135,000 John’s Call Stakes to run in the Sword Dancer, which awards its winner a fees-paid berth into the Breeders’ Cup Turf on Nov. 4 at Santa Anita. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.