Saratoga

In this continuing series, TDN's Senior Racing Editor Steve Sherack catches up with the connections of promising maidens to keep on your radar. Igniter (c, 2, Volatile)'s wide-trip, third-place finish behind 'TDN Rising Star' Golden Tornado (McKinzie) in a live maiden special weight at the Spa Aug. 9 on debut continues to look better every day. The runner-up Oscar's Hope (Twirling Candy) returned with a 'TDN Rising Star' performance on Saratoga's closing day program Sept. 1. Golden Tornado, meanwhile, is being aimed at the GI Champagne S. at Aqueduct Oct....

The mission was simple: go to the Keeneland September Sale with half a million dollars and come back with a horse that could get to the Kentucky Derby. Easy, right? Tom Benson had been out of the sport ever since he purchased the New Orleans Saints back in 1985. But now it was 2014 and he was ready to get back in the game. He recruited three trainers he knew from the Louisiana circuit--Dallas Stewart, Al Stall and Tom Amoss--and laid out the assignment. The outcome surpassed even the most...

During July and August--the height of the summer racing season--graded races happen at a fast and furious rate. With 44 graded events at Saratoga alone added to another 13 tracks conducting at least one graded race during the two-month span, it's a dizzying time to follow top racing on the continent. We break down the main takeaways from the season. Two dozen of the 95 graded races in July and August were contested at the top level, or Grade I. Seventeen of those Grade Is were at Saratoga (or nearly...

In the paddock for the GI Forego Stakes, nearly every other horse was flanked by handlers. A few pranced or eyed the crowd warily, as their teams worked to keep them focused on the task at hand. Meanwhile Book'em Danno (Bucchero) ambled placidly in front of the saddling stalls. His lone handler gave him an occasional pat, but otherwise the pair seemed impervious to the commotion around them. That steady demeanor has been one of Book'em Danno's trademarks, and it's one of the reasons why bringing the multiple Grade I...

"There are decades where nothing happens," said Lenin. "And there are weeks when decades happen." By the notoriously slow-burning standards of Thoroughbred breeding, however, for Amy Moore it has felt more like a decade when centuries have happened. The way it began, in a sprint maiden at Saratoga on 16 August 2015, could hardly have been less auspicious. The previous September, as she prepared to surface from a 30-year immersion in employee benefits law in Washington D.C., Moore had bought a Blame filly at Keeneland. The idea was that someday...

It was another memorable meet at Saratoga, which ended its 2025 season Monday having generated paid attendance exceeding one million fans for the 10th straight year. However, that wasn't enough to avoid a small decrease in all-sources handle. The total handle at the meet was $791,129,471, off just a tick from 2024's handle of $803,806,984. Total on-track average daily handle was virtually even with 2024 figures, $19,778,237 versus $20,610,435. "Saratoga is special in many ways, but it is the enthusiastic support from fans and horseplayers that transforms this historic venue...

Facing plenty of racing dram this past weekend, trainer Todd Pletcher confirmed that GI Pacific Classic and GI Jockey Club Gold Cup winners Fierceness (City of Light) and Antiquarian (Preservationist), respectively, came out of their races in good order and will train up to the GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar. The Gold Cup was marred by an incident soon after the start, where Pletcher-trained Mindframe (Constitution) swerved, dropping Irad Ortiz Jr. and was ultimately collared by the outrider. "[Antiquarian] is doing excellent, very good," Pletcher said of the...

Peter Brant, Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, Westerberg and Brook T. Smith's Sierra Leone (Gun Runner), who finished second in a problematic edition of the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup, will train up to the GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar, according to trainer Chad Brown. The GI Whiney winner, who tried to avoid fallen Irad Ortiz Jr. just steps out of the gate, traveled in last--18 lengths off the pace--before making a wide run down the lane to finish 1 1/2-lengths behind winner Antiquarian. "Thankfully, Irad...

By any metric, it's been a spectacular run at Saratoga for the Tom Amoss barn this summer, and Oscar's Hope (c, 2, Twirling Candy--Hopeful Princess, by Not This Time) put the cherry on top with a second-out romp, becoming the outfit's third 'TDN Rising Star' of the meet in the process. With penny breakage coming to New York for the first time in the Labor Day opener, the $150,000 Keeneland September yearling was away alertly enough, but was outfooted by the $1-million OBS March breezer, but chilly-on-the-board Epic Quest (Nyquist),...

Meringue (Frosted) proved her talents could be applied to the turf and dirt as she successfully picked up her first stakes win in the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Fillies Stakes. The grey debuted June 19 at Churchill Downs, where she closed from eighth in that five-panel baby dash to win at first-asking on the grass by a neck. From there, her connections moved her to the main track for a tilt at the GIII Adirondack Stakes at Saratoga, and she ran headlong into Florida-bred titan Mythical (St Patrick's Day), who dominated...

In a day good for the runners who made the pace, Johnny's Red Storm (Twirling Candy) made every pole a winning one and took home the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Sprint Stakes Sunday afternoon. The George Weaver charge came into this race off a sterling debut Aug. 3 at Saratoga, where he similarly took a field of auction-price restricted maidens gate-to-wire by four lengths. Training well in New York since then and shipped down for the race, the betting public liked him to the tune of 8-5 odds, and he was...

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....