SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Thanks to Sunlit Uplands (Ire) (Sands of Mali {Fr}), Rae Guest's first full year of retirement has been anything but boring.After completing a career of some 60 years as a jockey and a British-based trainer last fall, Guest and his wife, Rachel Flynn, have been on an international tour with their 4-year-old filly now trained by his longtime friend Stuart Williams. Seven weeks after she secured a group stakes victory, the Hamburg Fillies' Mile in Germany, Sunlit Uplands has brought them to North America, where she will face seven other fillies and mares in the GII $300,000 Ballston Spa Saturday at Saratoga Race Course.The Ballston Spa, contested at 1 1/16 miles over the inner turf course has drawn a field of accomplished stakes runners that includes Juddmonte's two-time GI winner Segesta (Ghostzapper), trained by Chad Brown, and the top two finishers in last year's Ballston Spa, Ozara (Lope de Vega {Ire}) and Deep Satin (American Pharoah).Guest, 76, described the Ballston Spa as the next logical step for the filly's fourth start of what has been an improving season.“She's a stakes winner, and we were looking to upgrade,” Guest said. “She won a Group 3 in Germany, and we wanted to upgrade her stakes performances.”Sunlit Uplands | Sarah AndrewGuest did quite well in his lone visit to Saratoga Springs, saddling Rosa Grace (GB) (Lomitas {GB}) for a second-place finish in the 2008 GII Lake Placid. Eighteen years later, he said Saratoga has not changed a great deal.“That was the first and only time I've been here,” he said. “I think it's a bit more commercial, maybe, but the racetrack, that seems the same with the picnics and everything. That all looks just the same, yeah, and people seemed to love it. We were here Sunday, and it was packed, and everybody was enjoying it.”Sunlit Uplands started her 2026 campaign at Lingfield in England with a fourth-place finish in the GIII Chartwell Fillies Stakes, a seven-furlong straight test on May 9. Williams said she probably need the race, her first since late November, and didn't have the best of trips. She registered a better outing on June 7 in Italy, finishing second by 1 3/4 lengths in the one-mile Premio XCVII Royal Mares listed stake at San Siro.The success in Germany, scampering away to win by three lengths at one mile over yielding turf, led to the trip to Saratoga.“We thought it was a good idea, and she's in good form,” Guest said. “Stuart was pointing towards running at this time. It's a nice adventure.”The New York Racing Association has recruited European horsemen, Guest said, with the offer to cover some travel expenses if the horse does not finish first or second.“It's a good incentive to get people from abroad to come,” he said. “It helps make racing more interesting.”Indeed, European-based runners have done very well at Saratoga this summer, picking up four wins in GI races and one in a GII. Kensington Lane (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}) started things off with a victory in the GI Belmont Oaks on July 4. Two races later on that program, Title Role (GB) (Too Darn Hot {GB}) won the GI Belmont Derby. Title Role subsequently finished third to Glacius (GB) (Too Darn Hot {GB}) in the GI Saratoga Derby on Aug. 8. Michael Tabor's 5-year-old mare Survie (Ire) (Churchill {Ire}) delivered a brilliant stakes double, winning the GII Glens Falls on Aug. 2 and taking the GI Christophe Clement over males on Aug. 15.Williams did not make the trip to Saratoga, but he will have a very experienced hand covering for him.“He's left us in charge,” Guest said, chuckling.Does that mean the co-owner will handle the saddling of the filly?“Yeah, well the valets usually do it, don't they?” Guest said, “but I'll be there helping.”There has been a solid Williams connection at Saratoga, though. Williams's daughter, Sophie Jones, is working for trainer Kenny McPeek, whose stable is about 40 yards from the quarantine barn.“The whole team has been very helpful,” Guest said, “helping us understand everything.”Ozara | Sarah AndrewHall of Fame rider John Velazquez, with a record five wins in the race, has the mount on Sunlit Uplands, who has competed on nine tracks in four countries and has a 4-3-0 record from 11 starts. She drew Post 2 in the Ballston Spa, just to the outside of Ozara, who won the race last year by 1 1/2 lengths for trainer Miguel Clement. Dylan Davis, who was aboard in the Ballston Spa, returns to the irons.Live Oak Plantation's And One More Time, trained by Hall of Famer Mark Casse, has won five of 10 starts in her career and prepped for the Ballston Spa with a gate-to-wire triumph in the listed De La Rose on July 17 at Saratoga.Trainer Chad Brown will saddle three runners, Segesta, Flanagan Racing's Grayosh (Yoshida {Jpn}) and LSU Stable's Play With Fire (Oscar Performance) in his quest for a record-extending ninth win in the race. Segesta opened her 2026 campaign with a victory in the GI Jenny Wiley at Keeneland, was third by 1 3/4 lengths in the GI Just A Game on June 6 and finished second by a half-length in the GI Diana on July 18.Guest grew up in a racing family of trainers and jockeys in England and said he has been actively involved in the sport since he was about 15 years old. During a riding career that continued until he turned to training at the age of 40, he said he won 17 Classic races abroad. His resume includes Triple Crown wins in Scandinavia, India and Holland. Returning to England to ride, he went to work for trainer Luca Cumani and rode horses for him in many top-level races.Once he made the switch to training full-time, Guest found success with high-quality horses he handled in his yard at Newmarket. Along the way, he had four Group or Grade 1 victories, including the 2010 Nearctic at Woodbine with Serious Attitude (Ire) (Mtoto {GB}).When Guest decided to step away from the business at the end of 2024, he notified his owners that they would have to move to other trainers. He did continue to handle a few last year, including Sunlit Uplands, who he saddled for the last time on Nov. 20. He said his wife named the horse with an eye toward accomplishment, reaching the reward of retirement, from Sir Winston Churchill's famous Their Finest Hour speech, the day after France fell to Hitler in 1940: “If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands.”So far, retirement has worked out quite well for Guest and Flynn.“My wife and I bought some land outside a Newmarket, which we're going to have horses on. We're building that up,” he said. “We've had a lot of fun with this filly. We've been to Milan and Germany with her, and now Saratoga. So, we're keeping busy and enjoying it.”The post Sunlit Uplands Keeps Rae Guest Busy In Retirement appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.