Saratoga
For the second consecutive year, the winner of the $600,000 GI Saratoga Derby Invitational at Saratoga Race Course Aug. 3 will receive an invitation to the A$5 million G1 Ladbrokes Cox Plate at Moonee Valley in Melbourne, Australia, according to a New York Racing Association release Monday. The winning connections of this year's Saratoga Derby, which was established in 2019 and is contested over 1 3/16 miles [1900 meters], will be afforded an automatic berth into the 2024 Ladbrokes Cox Plate, with subsidies for transportation and accommodation. In 2021, Joseph...
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.--Last summer, we hardly knew Kentucky-based trainer Al Stall Jr. During the 40 days of the 2023 Saratoga meet, Stall came up with one win in 12 starts. It's a little different a year later. Four days into the Spa season and Stall has started three horses. He has won with two of them and finished second with the third. "This pays the bar tab and the food tab," Stall said inside his office at his barn on the Saratoga backstretch Sunday morning. "We have to start working...
Scratched as the morning-line favorite from Friday's Coronation Cup against her own gender in favor of taking on the boys Sunday, 'TDN Rising Star' Star of Mystery (GB) (Kodiac {GB}) responded in kind with an easy win in the GIII Quick Call Stakes at Saratoga. A Godolphin runner from the Charlie Appleby barn, the 3-year-old filly began her racing in 'Rising Star' style, winning at second asking by 11 lengths in her native England just over a year ago. A stakes runner now in three countries, Star of Mystery placed...
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N. Y. - The first-time trainer Tom Amoss sent 2-year-old filly Kimchi Cat (Twirling Candy) to the races, he was expecting something good to happen. "We were very excited," Amoss said. "She had been doing very, very well in the mornings." That was June 14, a Friday, at Churchill Downs. The optimism waned a bit when they got to the paddock. "There was a very mature, good (Steve) Asmussen in there, and I was like, 'oh, God, we're in trouble," Amoss said. He was right. Viggiedal (Vekoma), the...
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.--After five career starts without a win, enough was enough. It was time for a change for 3-year-old colt Reynolds Channel (West Coast). Or two. Or three. Co-owner Lee Einsidler huddled with Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott and the following modifications were made: new distance, new jockey, and an equipment change. "I'm just glad he didn't change trainers," Mott said late Saturday afternoon. Mott could laugh and so could Einsidler because they were both standing in the winner's circle at Saratoga Race Course. Reynolds Channel finally got...
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Well-named Tough Catch (Complexity) could not be caught Saturday, leading every step of the way to capture the seventh race, a $100,000 5½-furlong maiden special weight contest for 2-year-olds at Saratoga Race Course. Tough Catch's victory added to Complexity's (Maclean's Music) remarkable start with his first crop of runners. According to the TDN's Sire List, Complexity, who stands at Airdrie Stud, entered the day with 11 winners from 15 starters, 73.3 percent. The Tough Catch score for trainer Dallas Stewart made it an even dozen and...
When GIII Sanford Stakes morning-line choice Mentee (City of Light) was scratched Saturday morning, it might have been assumed the race had lost some of its luster, but apparently no one told Mo Plex (c, 2, Complexity--Mo Joy, by Uncle Mo), who was featured in TDN's Saratoga Notebook Friday. The New York-bred Jeremiah Englehart trainee went gate to wire to stay undefeated and give his freshman sire (by Maclean's Music) his first graded win. Studlydoright (Nyquist) and Three Echos (Echo Town) each suffered bumps at the break, but kicked on...
In the first Grade I of the 2024 Saratoga meet, Juddmonte homebred Whitebeam (GB) (m, 5, Caravaggio--Sleep Walk {GB}, by Oasis Dream {GB}) repeated in the Diana Stakes, giving trainer Chad Brown a record ninth win in the race and eighth in the last nine years. It also marked his 154th career Grade I win. Canada's 2022 Horse of the Year and Queen's Plate winner Moira (Ghostzapper) was second, while MGISW Gina Romantica (Into Mischief) finished third. In a textbook front-running ride from Flavien Prat, Whitebeam lulled them to sleep...
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - With apologizes to the rest of the horse population spending the summer at Saratoga Race Course, the most popular Thoroughbred on the grounds is the dominating 3-year-old filly Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna). Winner of all three of her starts this season--by a combined 13 1/4 lengths--Thorpedo Anna took her next step towards the July 20 GI Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga early Saturday morning. With regular rider Brian Hernandez, Jr. on board, Thorpedo Anna worked five furlongs in 1:01.55 (5/20) on the Oklahoma Training Track....
After four straight appearances against open turf sprinters, Godolphin's Star of Mystery (GB) (Kodiac {GB}) returns to her own age group as the likely odds-on favorite for Sunday's GIII Quick Call Stakes at Saratoga. A two-time winner and Group 2 placed at two in England, the homebred filly wintered in Dubai, defeating a very good horse in the form of Ponntos (Ire) (Power {GB}) in the G2 Blue Point Sprint Jan. 26 before finishing second in the G3 Nad al Sheba Turf Sprint on Super Saturday and third to California...
Saturday's GIII Kelso Stakes lost a fair bit of its intrigue when Godolphin's Mysterious Night (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) was declared from the race, and it was eFive Racing's 'TDN Rising Star' Carl Spackler (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) who proved the chief beneficiary, defeating Talk of the Nation (Quality Road) in what more or less amounted to an eight-furlong match race. Call Me Harry (Street Sense), easily the longest shot in the field of four, led under the wire for the first time, but was content to let...
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. To follow is the lone such horse entered for Sunday at Saratoga: Sunday, July 14, 2024 Saratoga 1, $100k, 2yo,...