GI Belmont Stakes

In the morning after his GI Preakness Stakes triumph, Napoleon Solo (Liam's Map) was in good form, according to trainer Chad Summers, and will target the GI Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park as his next start. "He's good today," Summers told the TDN. "He's been very playful. I came back last night at about midnight just to have a quiet moment with him after all the hoopla. He ate all his food, so I gave him another scoop and he ate all that right away." "He's full of spunk and...

Golden Tempo (Curlin), the winner of the GI Kentucky Derby, put in his first workout at Keeneland on Friday, May 15 since capturing the big race for trainer Cherie DeVaux, according to a post on X by Gabby Gaudet. In company with 4-year-old stablemate So Sandy (Omaha Beach), the 3-year-old drilled four furlongs in :48.60 (10/74). The splits for the half mile move were :25.2, :36.2 and :48.3. Golden Tempo galloped out five-eighths in 1:01.1. Owned by Phipps Stable and St. Elias Stable, the colt could be pointing to a...

Distance test, passed, but pump the breaks on the Belmont talk, at least for now, according to trainer Chad Brown. A recent maiden graduate facing more seasoned competition, Growth Equity (Nyquist) made the jump from winner to graded winner with aplomb in the GIII Peter Pan Stakes, but while he has an expenses-paid spot in the final jewel of the Triple Crown, his conditioner is not entirely set on sending him to Saratoga. "I'll talk to Seth [Klarman, owner Klaravich Stables]," said Brown after the race. "Talking to Flavien [Prat],...

After finishing a respectable ninth last weekend in the GI Kentucky Derby, So Happy (Runhappy) has returned to his homebase in California as his connections decide what races are in his future after definitively ruling out the GI Preakness Stakes. The GI Santa Anita Derby hero was out on track Friday morning for a light jog. Trainer Mark Glatt reported that the Preakness had been ruled out for his first Kentucky Derby starter, but did not go as far as to rule out a start in the GI Belmont Stakes...

A group of GI Belmont Stakes contenders are beginning to assemble at Saratoga Race Course. Leading the contingent is GI Arkansas Derby-winner and recent GI Kentucky Derby runner-up Renegade (Into Mischief), who arrived upstate for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher on Wednesday. The colt returned to training on Thursday, and again on Friday morning for some light exercise in his first on-track appearances since finishing a neck second to Golden Tempo (Curlin) in the "Run for the Roses" at Churchill Downs last Saturday. Renegade is in Saratoga to prepare...

"As a baby, he was mean," recalls Vickie Hewitt. "When we were prepping him for sale, as a short yearling, he would charge the door, ears back, rearing up." How they handled him on Cambrey Farm, back then, may have a lot to do with the fact that Trendsetter (Modernist) heads to the GIII Peter Pan Stakes on Saturday as a breakout winner of the GIII Lexington Stakes. "We didn't step in there and start yelling at him, or raise our hands," Hewitt recalls. "We'd be very patient. You don't...

Maybe a touch earlier than expected, the rematch that the horse racing world pined for has arrived as reigning Horse of the Year Sovereignty (Into Mischief) will once again square off against the 2025 GI Preakness Stakes winner Journalism (Curlin) in the GII Oaklawn Handicap on Saturday. Both colts will be making their much-anticipated 4-year-old debuts in Hot Springs. Sovereignty turned in a spectacular season last year when he won the GI Kentucky Derby, GI Belmont Stakes and GI DK Travers Stakes. The Bill Mott trainee came down with a...

Third in the GI Toyota Blue Grass Stakes on Keeneland's opening weekend, Talkin (Good Magic) will skip the GI Kentucky Derby and be pointed toward the GI Preakness Stakes at Laurel Park by trainer Danny Gargan. Eleven lengths behind 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' Further Ado (Gun Runner) as that one dominated the Blue Grass, Talkin would be the trainer's chief hope for a second win in the Triple Crown series behind Dornoch, also a son of Good Magic, who claimed the GI Belmont Stakes in 2024. Gargan said...

The 2025 GI Preakness Stakes winner Journalism (Curlin) will ship to Hot Springs for the Apr. 18 running of the GII Oaklawn Handicap where the colt could face reigning Horse of the Year Sovereignty (Into Mischief), according to a Friday post on X by co-owner Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners. The tweet read, "JOURNALISM turned in a strong 5-panel move at Santa Anita Park in 1:00 3/5 this a.m. and has been declared all set by Michael McCarthy to make his seasonal debut in next Saturday's GII $1.25 million Oaklawn Handicap with...

Afleet Alex (Northern Afleet--Maggy Hawk, by Hawkster), the 2005 Champion 3-Year-Old Male and winner of both the GI Preakness and GI Belmont Stakes, was euthanized on Feb. 6 due to the infirmities of old age. He was 24. Afleet Alex will be buried at Gainesway. Retired to stud at Gainesway in 2006, he remained as a resident pensioner since 2022. Bred in Florida by John Martin Silvertand, Afleet Alex won by 11 1/4 lengths at Delaware Park before being purchased by Cash is King LLC and moved into the barn...

A total of 367 of the world's top 3-year-old Thoroughbreds became eligible to compete in the 2026 Triple Crown series during the early nomination phase, which closed Monday, Jan. 26, Churchill Downs said in a press release on Tuesday. This year's early nominees span the globe and include several horses that have already made an impact on the 'Road to the Kentucky Derby', led by graded stakes winners 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard', Further Ado (Gun Runner), 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard', Golden Tempo (Curlin), 'TDN Rising Star,...

One of the most significant collections of American Thoroughbred racing trophies in the sport's history--the Whitney family collection--has been bequeathed to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame by the late John Hendrickson, the institution's former chairman who unexpectedly passed away in August 2024, according to a press release from the repository on Wednesday. The collection is comprised of more than 400 trophies-- including eight Triple Crown race trophies won by Whitney family-owned runners--as well as numerous prizes commemorating important victories by Hall of Fame inductees Equipoise, Regret,...