Mindframe

Bi-coastal, 1 1/4-mile Grade I stakes over the weekend at Del Mar and Saratoga featured a number of contenders projected to target the GI Breeders' Cup Classic. The obvious winner was continent-crossing jockey John Velazquez, who parlayed a win in Saturday's GI Pacific Classic into a score 16 hours later in Sunday's GI Jockey Club Gold Cup. Here's a look how the horses who were in action emerged from those efforts and where they stand heading into the championship race. Fierceness: For a colt who has a reputation for sometimes...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - There is no time for real celebration and there certainly isn't time to feel sorry for oneself. In horse racing, the game just keeps going on. Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher had first-hand experience of that Sunday afternoon at Saratoga Race Course. Just before 2 p.m., he was elated and crushed in the same race, the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup. Just over an hour later, he had to push those emotions to the side and saddle a 2-year-old in a $100,000 maiden special weight....

With multiple Grade I winner and second choice Mindframe (Constitution) wiped out at the break, it was Centennial Farms' longshot Antiquarian (Preservationist) holding favored Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) at bay late to win the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup at Saratoga Sunday, earning an automatic berth in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic in November. Just a day after Fierceness (City of Light) overcame an adventurous beginning of his own making to win the GI Pacific Classic at Del Mar, stablemate Mindframe was less lucky at Saratoga, catching the worst of...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.--After the last two starts, there may be those who gave up on White Abarrio (Race Day). Saffie Joseph Jr., the trainer of the 6-year-old gray horse, isn't one of them. White Abarrio reappears at Saratoga on Sunday in the $1 million GI Jockey Club Gold Cup, a 1 1/4-mile test that has attracted some of the best older horses in the country. GI Whitney Stakes winner and 'TDN Rising Star' Sierra Leone is here, so is fellow 'Rising Star' Mindframe (Constitution), winner of all three of his...

Just how deep is Sunday's running of the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup at Saratoga, a 'Win and You're In' qualifier for the GI Breeders' Cup Classic in a little more than two months' time? Well, six of the eight remaining horses--GII Charles Town Classic winner Banishing (Ghostzapper) will be scratched--have recorded at least one Beyer Speed Figure of 104 or higher this year and three of the entrants are already Grade I winners this term. It is the very definition of a hot race. The field is led by...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - All summer long, Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher has fielded questions, seemingly daily, about the two marquee older horses that live in his barn at the Oklahoma Training Track. The goal, Pletcher said, was to keep Fierceness (City of Light) and Mindframe (Constitution) as far apart from each other as possible. On the racetrack that is. Mission accomplished. That weekend is here, and the two 4-year-olds are spending it on opposite ends of the country. Fierceness is in California to run in the GI, $1...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - At 6:30 Sunday morning, Sovereignty (Into Mischief), the hero of the 156h GI, $1.25 million Travers Stakes, was out and about around the Hall of Fame barn of trainer Bill Mott at the Oklahoma Training Track The 3-year-old colt, fresh off his resounding 10-length win in the Travers, grazed in the courtyard at the barn, looking like he could run another 1 ¼ miles later in the day. The margin of victory is tied for the fourth largest in Travers history. Sovereignty's blowout win was the...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- Earlier this week, owner Mike Repole took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to ask for help. He wanted to know what he should do with the two of the best older horses in the country, both, coincidentally, that he owns. Mindframe (Constitution) and Fierceness (City of Light). What to do with them next weekend? The options are simple enough. The $1 million GI Pacific Classic is being run at Del Mar in California next Saturday. The $1 million GI Jockey Club Gold Cup is being...

Banishing (Ghostzapper) spoiled a bid by Skippylongstocking (Exaggerator) to win the GII Charles Town Classic for the third year in a row when he successfully shipped in for West Virginia's biggest night at the races on Friday. The veteran who is co-owned by trainer David Jacobson scored his biggest triumph in the GIII Oaklawn Mile in Hot Springs Mar. 29 when he dueled and then defeated GISW Saudi Crown (Always Dreaming). Banishing was bested by First Mission (Street Sense) in the GII Oaklawn Handicap the next month, but he did...

   'TDN Rising Star' Fierceness (City of Light) is among late nominees for Del Mar's GI Pacific Classic Aug. 30. The 4-year-old is owned St. Elias Stables and Repole Stable, the latter also campaigns GI Stephen Foster winner Mindframe (Constitution). With the goal of keeping the two Repole runners separate until the GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar in November, Mindframe is slated to contest the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup at Saratoga Aug. 31. The Pacific Classic is also a 'Win & You're In' race for the Breeders'...

FOX broadcast network will provide television coverage of the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup from Saratoga Race Course Sunday, August 31, NYRA announced Thursday. Additionally, a special edition of Saratoga Live presented by Caesars Sportsbook will air on FOX from 1-2 p.m. To allow for national broadcast viewership, Jockey Club Gold Cup Day will feature a first post time of 11:20 a.m. The Jockey Club Gold Cup, which offers a "Win and You're In" berth to the GI Breeders' Cup Classic in November at Del Mar, has attracted an all-star...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- Jockey Junior Alvarado, the race day partner of Sovereignty (Into Mischief), the leading 3-year-old in the country, knows how everyone feels now. That's because he saw up close just how powerful Sovereignty is. Sovereignty had his final work before next weekend's $1.25 million GI Travers Stakes Saturday morning at the Oklahoma Training Track. As usual, he was being ridden by Neil Poznansky, the assistant to Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott. Alvarado, helping the barn out, climbed aboard Fort Nelson (Bernardini), who was Sovereignty's workmate for...