Counting Stars upsets Always a Runner in Acorn Stakes at Saratoga

Counting Stars did more than win the Grade 1 Acorn Stakes. She knocked the unbeaten aura off Always a Runner, beat the Kentucky Oaks winner by 3 3/4 lengths, and turned Saratoga’s first major summer test for 3-year-old fillies into a fresh showdown.

The upset came June 5 at Saratoga Race Course in the $500,000 race at 1 1/8 miles on dirt, where Counting Stars stopped the clock in 1:48.85 with Irad Ortiz Jr. aboard for trainer Mark Casse and West Point Thoroughbreds. Always a Runner, the 4-5 favorite, arrived with an unbeaten record and left with her first loss, while Meaning was third. The result also flipped the Churchill Downs order from May 1, when Counting Stars was third behind Always a Runner and Meaning.

That reversal is what gives the Acorn real weight. Counting Stars was not just better on the day; she was better in the exact race that helps shape the summer division. The Acorn has a way of drawing the line between a filly that looks good in company and one that can actually command the conversation once the calendar turns to the bigger summer stakes. Counting Stars crossed that line decisively, and she did it against the filly who had been setting the standard.

There is also a harder-edged betting lesson here. Always a Runner went off as the short price because the market had every right to trust the unbeaten Kentucky Oaks winner. But the Acorn reminded everyone that 3-year-old filly form is still fragile, especially when the class hierarchy tightens and the distance stretches to 1 1/8 miles. A filly can look untouchable in May and still get exposed in June. That is not a mystery in this division. It is the division.

Counting Stars’ background makes the win even more striking. The daughter of Honor A.P. was a modest $13,000 Keeneland September yearling in 2024 before bringing $150,000 at the 2025 OBS April sale, and she was bred by HRH Prince Sultan Bin Mishal Bin Saud. West Point Thoroughbreds now has a Grade 1 filly on its hands, and Casse picked up another Saratoga headline on a day that shifted the summer map. For bettors, the message is just as clear: the top of the 3-year-old filly division is still open, and Counting Stars just forced her way into the center of it.