Saratoga Race Course

The influence of Champion grass horse and MGISW English Channel both on the racetrack and in the breeding shed cannot be overstated. After stints at Hurricane Hall, Lane's End and finally, Calumet, we sadly lost him late in 2021, but he still has an active group that continues to carry home his legacy. Who is his most successful offspring? Maybe it's Chicago's own, MGISW The Pizza Man? Or how about MGISW Channel Maker, who just added another graded trophy to his collection last weekend at the ripe old age of...

Reigning GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile winner and MGISW Cody's Wish (Curlin) was installed as the 1-2 morning-line favorite and will exit from gate six after Wednesday's GI Whitney S. draw. The 96th running of the $1 million race is set for this Saturday, Aug. 5 and it offers a 'Win and You're In' berth to the GI Breeders' Cup Classic in November. Cody's Wish Hall of Fame trainer, Bill Mott said after the draw, "Every time you bring a horse over like this, you stand the risk of getting...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Four years into their business partnership, longtime friends Larry Roth and Michael Dubb are ready to unveil and start selling condominiums in their massive downtown project, The Residences at the Adelphi Hotel. Roth and Dubb have scheduled an informational brunch at 10:30 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 6 at the Adelphi Hotel, 365 Broadway. The event is by RSVP only. The Residences at the Adelphi Hotel features 79 condominiums that are part of a $90-million development on the corner of Broadway and Washington Street. A decade ago, Roth...

West Will Power (Bernardini--Wild Promises, by Wild Event), last-out winner of the GI Stephen Foster S., has been retired from racing after suffering a soft tissue injury, trainer Brad Cox confirmed Tuesday. The news was first reported by Dave Grening of Daily Racing Form. A homebred for Gary and Mary West, West Will Power hit the board in 15 of 17 starts, with seven wins and earnings of $1,745,390. In addition to his victory in the July 1 Stephen Foster, the 6-year-old also won this year's GII New Orleans Classic...

The one thing trainer Tom Amoss knew about his starter in Sunday's sixth race at Saratoga was that if she got into a fight in the stretch she would be able to handle it. That proved to be the case in the 6 1/2-furlong race for 2-year-old fillies. Ridden by Tyler Gaffalione, Alys Beach (Omaha Beach) scored a game win, out-battling the Todd Pletcher-trained Life Talk (Gun Runner) to win by a head. "On the track, she showed her competitiveness in practice," Amoss said. "She needed that today." Amoss has...

Godolphin's Cody's Wish (Curlin) had his final work ahead of the Aug. 5 GI Whitney S. Sunday at Saratoga, going four furlongs in :48.28 (9/69) over the Oklahoma training track. With Neil Poznansky aboard, the multiple Grade I winner clocked the first quarter-mile in :24 2/5 and galloped out five furlongs in 1:01 4/5 and seven furlongs in 1:27. "I thought it was perfect. If there is such a thing as a perfect work," trainer Bill Mott said. "Neil did a perfect job. The warm-up was good, the breeze went...

The New York Racing Association, New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, and New York Thoroughbred Breeders will host the third annual New York Thoroughbred Aftercare Day Aug. 17 at Saratoga Race Course. The featured race on Thursday's card will be the $125,000 Rick Violette, a 1 1/16-mile turf test for New York-bred sophomores named for the late trainer and NYTHA President who spearheaded the creation of the TAKE2 Second Career Thoroughbred Program and TAKE THE LEAD Retirement Program. Representatives from Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance-accredited organizations will be on-site to educate both racing...

When Todd Pletcher entered Miz Sense (Street Sense) in Sunday's first race at Saratoga, a maiden special weight race carded for a mile-and-a-sixteenth on the turf, he wasn't so much thinking grass. He wanted to run the Kentucky-bred in a route race, which they don't card during the Saratoga meet for 2-year-olds on the dirt. So when the race was washed off the turf course, Pletcher never hesitated to go ahead and run her in a race in which there were six scratches. It proved to be the right move....

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Arriving just in time at the wire, Elite Power (Curlin) added to Bill Mott's massive resume of Grade I triumphs Saturday and yet another birthday victory to his remarkable total at Saratoga Race Course. With his thrilling come-from-behind score by a head over Gunite (Gun Runner) Saturday in the GI Alfred G. Vanderbilt H., the 4-year-old Juddmonte colt provided the Hall of Famer with a very nice present on his 70th birthday. By extending his winning streak to eight, Elite Power gave Mott his 24th Saratoga...

6th-SAR, $136.5K, Msw, 2yo, f, 6 1/2f, 4:08 p.m. Sunday's racing slate features a daughter of Into Mischief who fetched $1.2-million at FTSAUG sale when she was purchased by Koji Maeda. MUGEN, trained by Steve Asmussen and ridden by Joel Rosario, is out of GI Test S. heroine Paola Queen (Flatter). TJCIS PPs 1st-SAR, $136K, Msw, 2yo, f, 1 1/16mT, 1:10 p.m. Heading to Saratoga's turf, there are number of first timers here worth mentioning. Sands of War (War Front) brought $550,000 at the Keeneland September Yearling sale and the...

   In this series, the TDN takes a look at notable successes of European-based sires in North America. This week's column is highlighted by Startup Mentality, who won the Monmouth curtain-raiser on Haskell Day in Oceanport, New Jersey. Kingman Filly Succeeds On Haskell Undercard Klaravich Stables and Chad Brown teamed up to take the first race on GI Haskell S. day at Monmouth Park with Startup Mentality (Ire) (Kingman {GB}) (video). A 300,000gns Tattersalls October Book 1 yearling, the daughter of Fine Time (GB) (Dansili {GB}) was bred by Mountarmstrong...

Equine or human, history is always about the six degrees of someone in racing's world. For instance, at 100-1 Jim Dandy beat Triple Crown champion Gallant Fox in the 1930 edition of the Travers S., which only featured four entries total. The horse who set up the longshot by engaging in a speed duel with the favorite over the mud was Whichone, a colt owned by Harry Payne Whitney (yes, that important family). And what other Thoroughbred did Whitney own? Well, that would be Upset, who did just that, when...