Saratoga

Coming in with the benefit of a race under her belt, Two Sharp (Twirling Candy) was just too good for the field of maiden fillies at Saratoga Friday to became a new 'TDN Rising Star'. Favored in her six-furlong debut at Churchill June 29 after bringing a cool $925,000 as a yearling at Keeneland September in 2022, the Rigney Racing runner spotted the field a step at the field and, while ultimately no match for the race winner, did well to get up into second. With the addition of experience...

6th-SAR, 100K, Msw, 2yo, 6f, 2:47 p.m. The second-costliest hip out of OBS March this year, FEROCIOUS (Flatter) worked in :9.4 and sold on a final bid of $1,300,000 to Marquee Bloodstock with the partnership of JR Ranch, Restrepo, Ramiro, High Step Racing and OGMA Investments now listed as owners. A son of the late Claiborne stallion Flatter, Ferocious is the second foal out of a winning Midnight Lute mare who is a half to GISW Obligatory (Curlin). This is also the family of French G1 winner Etoile Montante (Miswaki)...

Some of the most highly anticipated races during the summer racing season are the 'baby' races during the boutique meetings at Saratoga and Del Mar and at Ellis Park, which attract its fair share of high-priced offspring from a variety of top national outfits. Summer Breezes highlights debuting 2-year-olds at those meetings that have been sourced at the breeze-up sales earlier in the year, with links to their under-tack previews. Here are the horses entered for Saturday at Saratoga and Ellis Park: Saturday, August 3, 2024 Saratoga 2, $90k, 2yo,...

For many people, their passion for racing started with a horse. They watched Zenyatta dance to two Breeders' Cup victories, they had a strong opinion in the rivalry between Affirmed and Alydar or maybe they cheered American Pharoah on to a Grand Slam score when he won the 2015 Classic. For Priscilla Schaefer, her love of racing all started with a backstretch. She was in high school when she attended her first horse race at Emerald Downs outside of Seattle, Washington. Watching as the horses entered the starting gate, Schaefer...

Although in its 30th rendition in 2024, the GII Glens Falls Stakes at Saratoga has been contested at the distance of 1 1/2 miles for just the past four years. Only two mares have won those four renewals: War Like Goddess (English Channel) in 2021 and 2022 and now McKulick (GB) (m, 5, Frankel {GB}--Astrelle {Ire}, by Makfi {GB}) in 2023 and 2024. Last year, McKulick denied War Like Goddess a three-peat in a neck victory. This year, McKulick circled six wide to best fellow late runners Parnac (Fr) (Zarak...

When City of Light won the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile in 2018, it was one of the more impressive performances of the day. Although it had already been announced he would enter stud in 2019 at Lane's End Farm near Versailles, Ky., he had one race remaining on his dance card: the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes the following January. He romped that day as well, besting a slightly favored GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner with a 112 Beyer Speed Figure, which topped his 110 Breeders' Cup mark,...

1st-SAR, $100k, 3yo/up, f/m, 6 1/2f, 1:10 p.m. ET LADY PINK (Into Mischief), a $720,000 acquisition by Peter Brant at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale, is out of the unplaced Astray (Bernardini), whose SW & MGSP dam Away (Belong to Me) was responsible for MGSW and GI Kentucky Derby runner-up Eight Belles (Unbridled's Song) and an additional pair of stakes horses. The bay is a half-sister to Bob Marco (Arrogate), stakes-placed on the grass as a 3-year-old. Rigney Racing's Two Sharp (Twirling Candy), a $925,000 KEESEP yearling, blew the break...

The once-beaten Cinderella's Dream (GB) (Shamardal) will look to give Godolphin a third winner in the five-year history of the GII Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Oaks Invitational Stakes as she bids to add to her latest success in the GI Belmont Oaks Invitational over the same mile-and-three-sixteenths journey July 6. The homebred ran the table in the first four starts of her career, a pair of victories at two followed by two more this season at Meydan, including a jaw-dropping score in the Listed Jumeirah 1000 Guineas Mar. 2 that defies any...

TDN Rising Star Mindframe (Constitution), runner up in both Grade I attempts, will be sidelined because of bone bruising through the remainder of this year, according to DRF Wednesday. Campaigned by Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable, the Todd Pletcher trainee was sent to Ocala, Florida earlier this week and was examined by Dr. John Madison. With the defection of Mindframe, Repole also indicated that recent GII Jim Dandy Stakes winner Fierceness (City of Light) is a possibility to run in the Aug. 24 GI Travers S. "He's clear go...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.--Just over seven weeks ago, National Treasure (Quality Road) made his claim as the best older in the country when he rolled in the GI Metropolitan Handicap at Saratoga Race Course. Trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, National Treasure dominated five others on the way to a 6 1/4-length win. What can he do for an encore? We'll find out Saturday when Baffert saddles National Treasure--the 9-5 morning-line favorite--in the 97th running of the $1 million GI Whitney Stakes at the Spa. The race is a "Win...

2nd-SAR, $100K, Msw, 3yo/up, 5 1/2fT, 1:44 p.m. ET. LSU Stables's LETTER PERFECT (Audible), a $425,000 OBS March breezer (:10) from the Eddie Woods consignment in 2023, kicks off his career--weather permitting--sprinting on the grass for Christophe Clement. Letter Perfect, previously a $140,000 FTKJUL yearling, was the highest-priced colt from his sire's first crop to change hands at the 2-year-old sales in 2023 and the third most expensive from 44 sold overall. He is the first foal from his winning dam Syllable (Super Saver). TJCIS PPS

Unbeaten in two starts in this country as a 3-year-old last season, Godolphin's Eternal Hope (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) makes a belated seasonal debut in Thursday's $250,000 GII Glens Falls Stakes at Saratoga. A stakes winner going 12 furlongs over the Lingfield all-weather last May and third in the G2 Prix Alec Head, the homebred was the even-money pick for the GIII Jockey Club Oaks Invitational Stakes at Aqueduct last September and was a long way out of her ground before a late flourish saw her score by a neck. She...