Arcangelo

Blue Rose Farm's GI Belmont S. and GI Travers S. winner Arcangelo (Arrogate) breezed five furlongs in 1:03.25 and galloped out six furlongs in 1:13.13 over the Oklahoma training track at Saratoga on Friday. Regular jockey Javier Castellano was aboard for the move, which was the gray colt's final work before shipping to California on Wednesday to begin final preparations for the Nov. 4 GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita. "Everything was good," trainer Jena Antonucci said. "It was what we were looking for, it was just a maintenance...

4th-BAQ, $90K, Msw, 2yo, f, 6 1/2f, 2:39 p.m. The most expensive of a trio of first-time starters in this slot, AUDACIOUS (Into Mischief) brought a final bid of $700,000 as a yearling at Keeneland last September. Dam Veracity, herself a $1.7m RNA at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Fall Mixed Sale, is a full sister to SW Cheery (Distorted Humor), the dam of MGISW Elate (Medaglia d'Oro). Veracity also produced GISP Chide (Blame) and the dam of MGSW Tax (Arch). Drawn inside as the first half of a coupled entry, Martingale...

The Coolmore partners' Auguste Rodin (Ire) has joined the top 10 of the Longines World's Best Racehorse Rankings on the back of a victory in the G1 Irish Champion S. and raised his rating to 124. Japanese superstar Equinox (Jpn) (Kitasan Black {Jpn}) is still on top of the rankings at 129, one pound better than G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth S. victor Hukum (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) and G1 International S. hero Mostahdaf (Ire) (Frankel {GB}). Also a winner of the G1 Derby and G1 Irish...

After getting brushed and shuffled in the early stages of Saturday's GI Travers S. while losing momentum and position, Javier Castellano decided to wing his trip aboard 2.7-1 second choice Arcangelo (Arrogate). He would later explain with a laugh--in the way that only winning jockeys can find humor when their riding tactics go off-kilter--that "it seemed to me that everybody had a plan, except myself." Sometimes no plan ends up being the best plan, as demonstrated by Arcangelo's artful dissection of a "loaded" Midsummer Derby that brought together not only...

Arcangelo (Arrogate) was in fine shape Sunday following his victory in the GI Travers S. at Saratoga Saturday, but connections will take their time before picking out a next start for the sophomore. "He came back well and is full of himself today," said trainer Jena Antonucci. "Of course the Breeders' Cup is on the radar, but horses don't care about schedules or spreadsheets. We'll do what we've been doing and give him his space. We'll let him pave the way." Arcangelo added the Travers to his win in the...

In many ways, it was a 'good' problem to have. Having added a maiden success in the GI Kentucky Derby to his Hall of Fame resume at long last aboard Mage (Good Magic) in early May, jockey Javier Castellano continued a magical ride when teaming with Jena Antonucci to make history in the GI Belmont S. on the progressive Arcangelo (Arrogate), as the connections of Mage turned their collective attention to the second half of the season. Mage resumed with a very good runner-up effort when reportedly not fully fit...

Jockey Luis Saez, who went down during the running of Wednesday's John's Call S. when his mount Burning Bright suffered a fatal cardiac event, was dignosed with a dislocated collarbone and slight fracture in his left wrist, according to a tweet from former trainer and current agent Kiaran McLaughlin, but was released from Albany Medical Center. He will be out of the saddle for an undetermined period of time. After Javier Castellano committed to GI Belmont S. winner Arcangelo (Arrogate) for Saturday's $1.25-million GI Travers S., Saez was named by...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - With the three winners of the Triple Crown races gathered for just the fourth time in the GI Travers S. Saturday, will history repeat itself? Will a horse that did not run in the GI Kentucky Derby, GI Preakness S. or the GI Belmont S. deliver an upset in the 154th Travers? That is how it played out in 1918 with Sun Briar, again in 1982 with Runaway Groom and six years ago when West Coast won the 2017 running of Saratoga's oldest stakes race. If...

As Tuesday's entry time looms, the GI Travers S. is shaping up as a rare showdown of the three winners of this season's Triple Crown races. That's happened only five times since 1978, and on no occasion during the last 45 years when the winners of those spring Classics all graced the starting gate for Saratoga's "Midsummer Derby" has any one of them emerged victorious. That's a fairly daunting stat considering how the match-up of the GI Kentucky Derby, GI Preakness S. and GI Belmont S. winners is essentially what...

Blue Rose Farm's Arcangelo (Arrogate) posted a five-furlong breeze in 1:01.63 over the Saratoga's main track under Javier Castellano in preparation for the Aug. 26 GI Travers S. Trainer Jena Antonucci said she was pleased with the GI Belmont S. winner's work, which served as a maintenance breeze after he covered the same distance in 1:00.21 on Aug. 6. "It went super. It was everything we were looking for," Antonucci said. "The big heavy lifting was in the prior work, so we'll just keep his feet on the ground for...

OGMA Investments, Ramiro Restrepo, Sterling Racing and CMNWLTH's GI Kentucky Derby hero Mage (Good Magic) turned in his penultimate breeze ahead of his anticipated appearance in the Aug. 26, GI Travers S., going six furlongs in 1:12.98 over the Saratoga main track Friday morning under exercise rider J. J. Delgado. According to Daily Racing Form, Mage galloped out seven furlongs in 1:26.31 and was up the mile in 1:40.66. It was a stiffer breeze than last week, when he covered five furlongs in 1:01.03 over a track with a high...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- It turned out that a non-decision is precisely what settled who would ride GI Kentucky Derby winner Mage (Good Magic) and GI Belmont S. winner Arcangelo (Arrogate) in the GI Travers. Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano rode both horses to their victories in the Triple Crown series and had his choice of which one to ride in the Travers on Aug. 26 at Saratoga Race Course. He holds the Travers record of six wins. Mage's trainer, Gustavo Delgado, asked Castellano on Monday to give him...