Saratoga

Saturday's Belmont Stakes is the last of nine top-level events on the weekend and the final of the six highly anticipated Grade I contests scheduled for a bumper card at Saratoga, short, medium and long on both the turf and the main track. A top-quality field of seven is set to face the starter in the GI Hill 'n' Dale Metropolitan Handicap, for which 'TDN Rising Star' presented by Nysos (Nyquist) is the 9-5 morning-line favorite and 126-pound topweight in the 'Win and You're In' qualifier for the GI Breeders'...

TDN's Chief Correspondent Bill Finley is joined by Senior Contributing Editor Alan Carasso and Senior Racing Editor Steve Sherack to handicap Saturday's GI Belmont Stakes at Saratoga. FINLEY: Picking Renegade (Into Mischief) to win the Belmont is a no-brainer. After he was knocked silly at the start of the GI Kentucky Derby, he overcame the trouble and ran a big race to finish second, beaten only a neck. Did his problems at the start cost him the race? Probably. Todd Pletcher is a master at having his horses ready for...

Using her speed from the outside gate, Roja (Karakontie (Jpn)--Redmeansgo, by Red Ransom) made the lead and never looked back in the GII Intercontinental Stakes at Saratoga Race Course on Thursday afternoon. The win was the first graded victory of her career. In her lone 2026 start, the blazing fast filly hurdled a turf sprint versus optional claimers at Churchill Downs Apr. 29. Her first visit to the winner's circle came when she broke her maiden at third-asking just over a year ago at Laurel Park. Roja was the runner-up...

1st-SAR, 115K, Msw, 3yo/up, 1 1/8m, 11:45 a.m. The first foal out of SW/GISP Lady Kate, STORMING (Curlin) cost $850,000 at Keeneland September in 2024 for the partnership of Arnmore Thoroughbreds, Pine Racing Stables, Belmar Racing and Breeding and Legendary Thoroughbreds. Bred by Stonestreet who purchased Lady Kate for $1.15-million at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale in 2021, Storming's impressive sales tag was usurped by that of his Into Mischief half-brother who sold to Resolute Racing for an eye-popping $3-million at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale last summer. Another son of Curlin,...

After a lengthy delay following the gate scratch of Bernieandtherose (Accelerate), 2-5 choice Directive (Gun Runner) took it all in stride, going on to earn her second consecutive victory at Saratoga on Thursday. A debut second sprinting at the Big A on Apr. 3, the Juddmonte homebred relished the wet going while extending to a mile at that venue on Apr. 30. Joined by a red-hot Flavien Prat, who already won the first two races on Thursday's card, the Chad Brown trainee allowed U Lite Up My Life (City of...

Sent off the even-money favorite to run his current winning streak to three, Mo Speed Racing's West End Kid (Twirling Candy) sat a stalking trip and had plenty left for the final furlong to easily take out Thursday's GIII Pennine Ridge Stakes at Saratoga Race Course. Drawn widest in a field of nine and exiting a comfortable Churchill allowance victory May 8, the bay colt was asked for a bit of speed by Tyler Gaffalione passing the stands for the first time, but was content to take the sit from...

Luminous Beauty (f, 2, Flameaway--Sly Beauty, by Into Mischief) went to the front and stayed there, taking her second career start with ease while going 5 1/2 furlongs in Saratoga on Thursday afternoon. She was let go at 21-1 for her career bow going five panels at Churchill Downs on May 15 and she got a little leg-weary late, having to settle for second beaten 1 3/4 lengths by Pierrette (Girvin). Sent off at 4-1 while adding a sixteenth, the $40,000 Fasig-Tipton July yearling purchase broke like a shot and...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Led by GI Preakness S. winner Journalism (Curlin) and GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile winner Nysos (Nyquist), a talented field of seven will line up for Saturday's 'Win and You're In' GI Hill 'N' Dale Metropolitan Handicap on the GI Belmont Stakes program at Saratoga. TDN's Senior Racing Editor Steve Sherack takes a closer look at the pedigrees for the entire field entered in the stallion-making race. #1 NYSOS (h, 5, Nyquist--Zetta Z, by Bernardini) Lifetime Record: GISW-US & G1SP-Sau, 9-7-2-0, $4,738,500 'TDN Rising Star, presented...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - When it's a big race day, you'll find Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert. Saturday is a big race day at Saratoga Race Course. Seven graded stakes--six of them Grade Is worth $5.9 million. Of course, Baffert is going to be here. He doesn't have a horse in the $2-million GI Belmont Stakes, but he has an impressive trio--Nysos (Nyquist), Crude Velocity (Beau Liam) and Imagination (Into Mischief)--running on the undercard. Nysos and Crude Velocity are both 'TDN Rising Stars, presented by Hagyard.' "It's a big...

A trio of turf graded stakes kicks off the Thoroughbred season at Saratoga on Thursday, headed by the GIII Pennine Ridge Stakes which features sophomores going 1 1/16 miles on the turf. Installed the 9-5 morning-line choice, Mo Speed Racing's West End Kid (Twirling Candy) will attempt to secure his third consecutive victory after posting a pair scores over this distance in a 3 1/2-length win Keeneland maiden on Apr. 11 followed by another confident tally in a Churchill optional claimer on May 8. Trained by Will Walden, the colt...

1st-SAR, 115K, Msw, 2yo, f, 5 1/2f, 12:35 p.m. Trainer Todd Pletcher debuts a pair of 2-year-old fillies in the Thursday opener at Saratoga. Rail-drawn PERPETUAL (Drain the Clock) impressed at OBS March earlier this year, working a quarter-mile in :20.1 before selling to Lee Ackerley Racing & Gainesway for $500,000. Her unraced Street Boss first dam has already produced two winners from as many to race and Pletcher will leg up Hall of Famer John Velazquez for this unveiling. In the middle of the gate, stablemate Dinner Party (Not...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - For the third time in four years, another entry in Journalism's (Curlin) story will be written close to the corner of Union and East avenues. In 2023, he was purchased as a yearling for $825,000 by the Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale. Last year, with a distinctive name and a pair of Grade I wins on his resume, he finished second in the showdown of Triple Crown race winners to Sovereignty (Into Mischief) in the GI Belmont Stakes at Saratoga Race Course, approximately...