Saratoga Notebook

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - There was never really any thought about running Iron Orchard (Authentic) in Sunday's GIII, $175,000 Adirondack Stakes at Saratoga Race Course. Trainer Danny Gargan said Saturday that Iron Orchard, the 5-2 second choice on the Adirondack morning line, will stay in the barn on Sunday. "I didn't really train her for this race," Gargan said Saturday morning outside his barn on the Saratoga backstretch. "I wasn't going to enter at all and (owners) said let's enter and look at it and then decided to wait." Iron...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Just after 6:30 on a dreary, rainy Thursday morning, a 4-year-old gelding named Corruption (Medaglia d'Oro), with a long white blaze on his face, stuck his dark brown head out of his stall at Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse's barn on the Saratoga backstretch. Bright-eyed and inquisitive, he gobbled up a peppermint. If he could have spoken, he might have said, 'what's the big deal? I feel fine." About 15 1/2 hours prior, he wasn't. After winning Saratoga's fourth race on Wednesday and returning to...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - So far, trainer Joe Sharp has done little wrong at the Thoroughbred meet at Saratoga. If you've been following along, you know he has won six races with his first 15 starters. You might not know that he is also doing ok across the street at the harness track. Sharp has been moonlighting as a harness owner at night--along with former jockey Taylor Rice, the wife of jockey Jose Ortiz. They own a pair of pacers named Virgin Honor and Legal Bettor and they will both...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.--One of the most anticipated horses on the grounds at Saratoga comes to the races on Saturday. His name is Sovereignty (Into Mischief) and he is the unquestioned headliner in the GII, $500,000 Jim Dandy Stakes, the traditional local prep for the GI, $1.5 million Travers Stakes on Aug, 23. Why shouldn't he be? He has already won the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Belmont Stakes and is regarded as the best 3-year-old colt in the land. Jockey Junior Alvarado, who has ridden Sovereignty in six of his...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - When he found out he was going to need a new jockey, John Shirreffs didn't blink. He knew who was going to ride Baeza (McKinzie) in Saturday's $500,000 GII Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga Race Course. And the jockey isn't all that new, not to Baeza. Baeza will be reunited with California-based Hector Berrios when he steps on the track to take on GI Kentucky Derby and GI Belmont Stakes winner Sovereignty (Into Mischief) and three others in the 1 1/8-mile traditional prep for the Aug....

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. --The expectations? Oh, they were through the roof. Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse thought his 3-year-old filly La Cara (Street Sense) was going to run huge in the GI Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga. Those hopes turned to despair mighty quick. About eight hours before the CCA Oaks was run Saturday, La Cara was denied the chance to run after a suspected case of strangles forced the New York Racing Association and the New York State Gaming Commission to place a group of horses in...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.--The work is done. Now, Sovereignty (Into Mischief) waits for the $500,000 GII Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga Race Course next Saturday. Winner of the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Belmont Stakes, Sovereignty's connections are confident he is ready to make his first start since that Triple Crown campaign. Saturday, morning at 7:30, Sovereignty had his final work for the Jim Dandy--and third since the Belmont--going four furlongs in 49.82 (12/41) under Neil Poznansky, the assistant to Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott. Sovereignty worked by himself; in...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- Arguably the best older horse in training, Mindframe (Constitution), went back to work Friday morning. The 4-year-old colt had his first work since winning the loaded GI Stephen Foster Stakes last month for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher. Mindframe worked an easy four furlongs in :52.46 (76/78) on the main track with regular exercise rider Carlos Quevedo on board. "He does whatever you ask him to do," Pletcher said outside his barn at the Oklahoma Training Track. "He is cool that way. He goes easy...

SARATOGA SPRINGS - The first six days of Saratoga have been hot. As in really hot. Blast furnace type hot. Trainers have felt it. Jockeys. Patrons. New York Racing Association executives. Parking attendants. Everybody. And, of course, the horses. But the stars of the show have been watched very carefully by those entrusted to take care of them. Some horses, like people, can't stand the heat. "Some horses can be extreme sweaters," trainer Gary Contessa said on yet another steamy Saratoga morning on Thursday outside his barn at the Oklahoma...

SARATOGA SPRINGS - Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse wasn't going to lie. There is no joy in facing Sovereignty (Into Mischief), the clear leader of the 3-year-old division. But that doesn't mean Casse isn't chomping at the bit for another chance at the champ. That comes a week from Saturday when Casse's Sandman (Tapit) takes on the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Belmont Stakes winner in Saratoga's $500,000 GII Jim Dandy. "I don't know if you ever look forward to facing Sovereignty," Casse said outside his barn on the...

SARATOGA SPRINGS -- Before this year, the last time Victor Espinoza rode at Saratoga was the summer of 2015, the year of American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile). "That was not a great memory," Espinoza said, recalling when the Triple Crown winner was upset in the Travers by Keen Ice (Curlin). The 53-year-old Hall of Fame jockey is hoping to make a better impression 10 years later as he is spending the summer at the Spa for the first ever. Espinoza, who owns 3,520 career victories, has been working the Saratoga...

SARATOGA SPRINGS -- Anyone who went by Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott's barn on the Oklahoma Training Track Friday morning did a double take. A jumbo-sized maple tree, which has stood tall for years outside Mott's office, was no more. Thanks to a violent display of weather Thursday night after Opening Day at Saratoga Race Course, the tree was uprooted and came crashing down. Part of the tree came to rest on the roof of Mott's office. Miraculously, there was no damage done to the office, which was unoccupied...