Saratoga Race Course

If it stays like this, a single maiden winner might settle it. Because all that separates McKinzie ($2,294,679) from current leader Tiz the Law ($2,339,575) in the freshman table is $44,896. But wait, there's more. McKinzie isn't even second. Between the pair lurks Vekoma ($2,306,457), ensuring a desperate three-way contest for the prized laurels of champion first-season sire. It's even closer than this time last year, when four stallions were divided by barely $200,000. In the end, Mitole actually extended his lead down the stretch. But the fact that the...

After a Breeders' Cup run in the sun, trainer Chad Brown is back on his home turf--literally--for another graded race at Aqueduct. When the top conditioner has paired with red-hot jockey Flavien Prat over the past 60 days, the duo wins at a rock-solid clip of almost 25% out of 51 attempts. In Friday's GIII Pebbles Stakes, the Brown-Prat alliance tries to get Klaravich Stables's Oversubscribed (GB) (Too Darn Hot {GB}) back into the winner's circle. As the 2-1 favorite on the morning-line here, the last time Brown booked Prat...

May Day Ready (Tapit), the runner-up in last Friday's GI John Deere Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Del Mar, will make her next start in the G1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies at Kyoto Racecourse in Japan Dec. 8, according to a tweet on X by her trainer Joseph Lee. Lee posted, "After discussing May Day Ready's future with Mr. and Mrs. Doyle and George Barnes @katierichfarms, the decision has officially been made to ship her to JAPAN to run her in the G1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies on December 8th." The...

DEL MAR, California--History can be a sprint from one anachronism to the next, but every now and then it hands us spectators something unique across generations. You know, one of those full circle moments where we can witness a learner transforming into a future master. A little over 40 years ago at the inaugural Breeders' Cup World Championships hosted by Hollywood Park, Monsieur Alain de Royer-Dupre saddled Lashkari (GB) (Mill Reef) for His Highness The Aga Khan. The 3-year-old took home the very first Breeders' Cup Turf, which was one...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY--Even though Incurable Optimist (Cure the Blues) does not appear anywhere in Edict's (Arg) (Il Campione (Chi)) pedigree, think of her as a direct descendent of the precocious 1998 New York-bred Horse of the Year, who became a top sire in Argentina. Family ties notwithstanding, there is a straight line between Incurable Optimist and Edict, who will make her first start in the U.S. in the listed $150,000 Athenia Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack on Saturday. Their connections, stretching across decades, are rock solid: from owner John Behrendt, through...

The John Forbes Memorial, a two-mile flat race to be run Saturday at the Far Hills, New Jersey hunt meet isn't for every horse. The horse needs to be able to handle the grueling distance of two miles and carry as much as 148 pounds. But there are plenty of trainers who believe their horses can handle the test. A race that is getting better every year, the $150,000 race attracted 14 entries, including Thoroughbreds from the stables of Mike Maker, Christophe Clement, Graham Motion and Peter Eurton. The Forbes...

9th-Keeneland, $120,000, Alw (NW2X)/Opt. Clm ($125,000), 10-10, 3yo, 6f, 1:10.30, ft, neck. WORLD RECORD (c, 3, Gun Runner--Marwa {GB}, by Exceed And Excel {Aus}) broke his maiden at second asking at Churchill Downs May 27, which earned him a 'TDN Rising Star' badge. The bay finished third over the same surface in the Maxfield Stakes June 30, but rebounded with a signature score in the GII Amsterdam Stakes at the Spa July 26. Well-beaten in the GI H. Allen Jerkens Memorial Stakes upstate a month later, the colt was well-backed...

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) has promoted Rob MacLennan, effectively immediately, to the position of racing secretary, according to a press release from the track on Wedensday. MacLennan joined NYRA in April 2021 as a racing official and was serving as the assistant racing secretary. He arrived at NYRA after employment as the racing secretary at Century Mile and Century Downs in Canada. A licensed racing official, MacLennan joins Keith Doleshel, senior director of racing, who also holds the secretary title in overseeing the writing of condition books...

The weather did not bother 'TDN Rising Star' Ways and Means (Practical Joke--Strong Incentive, by Warrior's Reward) as she skimmed the Aqueduct slop and easily took home the GII Gallant Bloom Stakes on Sunday afternoon. Last seen capturing the GI Test Stakes at Saratoga Aug. 3, that effort came on the back of a career best two back--at least on paper--over a Saratoga first-level allowance group June 6. She'd dominated those rivals by 8 1/4 lengths and earned a 104 Beyer, stronger than anything else this field had managed to...

Dual Grade I-winner Dornoch (Good Magic) has been on downtime at Saratoga in the weeks after finishing fourth in the GI DraftKings Travers Aug. 24. Trained by Danny Gargan, the colt is gearing up for what is expected to be his final career start in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar Nov. 2 before retiring to stud at Spendthrift Farm. "He's doing good, and we gave him some time off and are just starting back," Gargan said. "He'll work three times before the Classic. He's not a horse...

Siena Farm and WinStar Farm's GISW Mullikin (Violence) will train up and point to the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint, according to trainer Rodolphe Brisset. The 4-year-old dark bay is 4-for-4 this year, including his biggest score to date last-out in the GI Forego Stakes at Saratoga Race Course Aug. 24. Since returning from upstate to Brisset's base at Keeneland, Mullikin had his first breeze back on Thursday morning, covering a half-mile in 49 flat. "He's doing very good. We are just going to go straight to the Breeders' Cup," said...

6th-Kentucky Downs, $180,800, Msw, 9-8, 2yo, f, 1mT, 1:36.02, fm, neck. BALLERINA D'ORO (f, 2, Medaglia d'Oro--In the Moonlight, by Tapit) debuted a well-beaten sixth over the grass at Saratoga Aug. 4. Backed as the 6-5 favorite here, the filly was unhurried after the break as the lead was wrestled away by Big Air (Vekoma). The grey remained patient around the far turn, waited until she was given her cue approaching the eighth pole and went to work slicing through traffic. With a well-timed surge in the final jumps, the...