Todd Pletcher
6th-Saratoga, $97,000, Msw, 8-17, 2yo, 1 1/16mT, 1:46.07, fm, 1 1/4 lengths. TELEPORT (IRE) (c, 2, Lope de Vega {Ire}--Gravitee {Fr}, by Galileo {Ire}), who was part of an uncoupled entry from the barn Todd Pletcher, was elevated to the top spot after the stewards said that Scope (Gun Runner) fouled his stablemate in the stretch. After three scratches earlier in the day and one at the gate, the debuting Teleport--an 'Insight' runner--went off as the 3-2 race favorite. Controlling the tempo throughout, the chestnut colt was looking to close...
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- Jockey Junior Alvarado, the race day partner of Sovereignty (Into Mischief), the leading 3-year-old in the country, knows how everyone feels now. That's because he saw up close just how powerful Sovereignty is. Sovereignty had his final work before next weekend's $1.25 million GI Travers Stakes Saturday morning at the Oklahoma Training Track. As usual, he was being ridden by Neil Poznansky, the assistant to Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott. Alvarado, helping the barn out, climbed aboard Fort Nelson (Bernardini), who was Sovereignty's workmate for...
4th-SAR, $100k, Msw, 2yo, f, 6f, 2:20p.m. ET A homebred for St Elias Stable, Nonna Teresa (Gun Runner) will head out for conditioner Todd Pletcher on what could turn into a very quality-heavy afternoon for debuting runners at The Spa. From the female line of the great Personal Ensign through third dam MGISW My Flag (Easy Goer), the chestnut is out of MGSW Teresa Z (Smart Strike), herself a half-sister to the dams of GSW-UAE Queen Azteca (Sharp Azteca) and MGSP Colorful Mischief (Into Mischief). Her final prep for this...
6th-SAR, $90K, Msw, (S), 2yo, 6f, 4:06 p.m. ET Froutien (Galilean), a $700,000 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May 2-Year-Olds in Training graduate, debuts against fellow New York-breds. The Tagermeen Racing colorbearer posted six workouts at Todd Pletcher's Monmouth Park base ahead of this debut run. From the first crop of MSW California-bred Galilean, he hails from the extended female family of MGISW 'TDN Rising Star' Mindframe (Constitution). Froutien also changed hands for $95,000 at the Fasig-Tipton New York-Bred Yearling Sale and RNA'd for $160,000 at OBS March. TJCIS PPs
SARATOGA SPRINGS - About 15 minutes after Final Score (Not This Time) won Saratoga's fourth race--a $100,000 maiden special weight--Avery Johnson, who made his bones in another sport, cackled up in the clubhouse. He had just been part of the entourage of owner Mike Repole, who owns Final Score, a 1 3/4-length winner in the 1 1/16-mile test on the Inner Turf course. Repole is famous for massive winner's circle pictures, but the big dog wasn't in town Sunday, so the group was much more manageable. Johnson, 60, who spent...
4th-Saratoga, $100,000, Msw, 8-10, 2yo, 1 1/16mT, 1:45.48, fm, 1 3/4 lengths. FINAL SCORE (c, 2, Not This Time--Precious Dixie, by Bernardini) came on from the back on debut and ran second July 13 at this venue in a baby dash that was ultimately taken off the turf. Back on the grass and stretched out here, the 9-5 favorite was quick to the front and controlled the tempo through :24.61, :50.88, and 1:16.61 splits. Under pressure as the field closed ranks for the homeward drive, Final Score was called on...
SARATOGA SPRINGS - As Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott watched Sovereignty (Into Mischief) gobble up ground on the Oklahoma Training Track from afar Saturday morning, his mind drifted back to maybe the best horse he ever trained. Sovereignty, working for the first time since winning the GII Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga on July 26, went four furlongs in :48.99 (117/65) and galloped out in 1:02 2/5. Assistant trainer Neil Poznansky was on board. Mott had accompanied Sovereignty to the Oklahoma aboard his pony, Rocky. "Coming to the wire,...
Saturday's racing action at Saratoga and across the country saw not only an eye-catching number of new 'TDN Rising Stars' (the final tally stopping on five), but also current members of the club securing sensational victories against salty competition. With the runners emerging from their efforts with positive prognoses, their connections are now looking ahead. Of the established 'Rising Stars', GII Saratoga Special victor Ewing (Knicks Go) returned from that win in fine form and will now be tasked with stretching his abilities out. The Mark Casse trainee was one...
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Many of the smiles and chuckles following Ted Noffey's victory in the first race at Saratoga Race Course Saturday had very little to do with his solid 1 1/2-length victory. They were about his name, which was the result of a very simple but humorous mistake, as his, err, namesake Ned Toffey explained. Toffey, for 21 years the general manager of Spendthrift Farm, which owns Ted Noffey, was chosen as Kentucky's Farm Manager of the Year in 2024, an honor that started the story. "One of...
TED NOFFEY (c, 2, Into Mischief--Streak of Luck, by Old Fashioned) may've started as a typo, but the performance was no joke as the grey gamely kicked home to 'TDN Rising Star' honors at Saratoga. The son of the perennial leading sire entered into this debut with a long worktab at the venue with the most recent move having come July 21 when he breezed four panels in :49.55 (25/44) in company with fellow Spendthrift co-owned Tapit's Legacy (Tapit)--who also won at first asking last week by five lengths. Sent...
Before Sovereignty (Into Mischief) and Journalism (Curlin), there was Fierceness (City of Light) and Sierra Leone (Gun Runner). While we patiently wait for round three between the top two 3-year-olds in the country, last year's two standout sophomores and 'TDN Rising Stars' Fierceness and Sierra Leone will meet for the fifth time and first this year in Saturday's GI Whitney S. at Saratoga, a 'Win and You're In' for the GI Breeders' Cup Classic. Fierceness defeated Sierra Leone in both the GII Jim Dandy S. and GI Travers S. at...
SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY--The cell phone rang, and, on the other end, Mike Repole was rolling. "I've won the Alabama twice, I've won the Jim Dandy three times ... I have to pinch myself," Repole, his rat-a-tat-tat all-Queens accent working in overdrive, said from his summer home in New England. "I've won the Coaching Club (American Oaks) twice. I've won the Hopeful ... to win the Travers once in your life is one in a million. I've won it twice, so it's one in a billion!" And a pause. In the...