Todd Pletcher

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- Arguably the best older horse in training, Mindframe (Constitution), went back to work Friday morning. The 4-year-old colt had his first work since winning the loaded GI Stephen Foster Stakes last month for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher. Mindframe worked an easy four furlongs in :52.46 (76/78) on the main track with regular exercise rider Carlos Quevedo on board. "He does whatever you ask him to do," Pletcher said outside his barn at the Oklahoma Training Track. "He is cool that way. He goes easy...

And thus the queen of flowers blooms again. 'TDN Rising Star' Leslie's Rose (Into Mischief) has rediscovered her best stride and gamely took home the GII Shuvee Stakes at Saratoga Friday afternoon. Eased up in the stretch last out June 6 in the GI Ogden Phipps Stakes when the track turned into slop she hated, it had been the most recent in a series of tough-luck jumps for the daughter of Into Mischief. Her prior three starts before then were the GI Acorn Stakes and GI CCA Oaks last year--where...

7th-SAR, 100K, Msw, 2yo, 6f, 3:54 p.m. The most expensive member of Yaupon's heralded first crop, STRADALE was a $1,300,000 OBS April grad for Kaleem Shah's KSI after matching the sale's fastest furlong breeze time of :9 4/5 (see Summer Breezes) from the consignment of de Meric Sales, who purchased him initially as a yearling for $285,000 at FTKJUL. He is the first foal out of Twitterpated (Stormy Atlantic), a mare who is a full-sister to GI Matriarch Stakes winner Stormy Lucy. Steve Asmussen trains this firster who comes in...

The 16th annual jockeys-versus-horsemen charity basketball game, which benefits the programs of the New York Race Track Chaplaincy, as well as the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund, will be played Aug. 6 at the Saratoga Springs Recreation Center beginning at 7 p.m. The jockey team will once again be coached by Hall of Fame jockey Angel Cordero, Jr. Assisting him on the sidelines this year will be Taaj Ridley, the head of player development and assistant coach for the Maine Celtics of the NBA G League. The horsemen's team will be...

SARATOGA SPRINGS - On Saturday, there were three $100,000 maiden special weight races at Saratoga Race Course. All of them were won by a 2-year-old with prior experience. On Sunday the beat continued as Malus (Into Mischief) rolled to a three-length win in his second career start. Originally scheduled for the Mellon Turf Course at 5 1/2 furlongs, it was moved to the main track at the same distance because of Saturday rain. And it was just what Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher ordered. Malus, ridden by Hall of...

1st-SAR, $100K, Msw, 2yo, 6f, 12:35 p.m. ET. With the third highest return at the 2025 OBS Spring Sale, TAGERMEEN (Into Mischief) was taken home for $1.4-million by Mahmud Mouni after the colt fired a :9 4/5 during the under-tack show. Sent to Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen, the debuting bay is out of Silk Route (Empire Maker), who Mouni acquired for a mere $10,000 at the 2024 Keeneland November Sale. Tagermeen's extended female family includes GIII Lecomte Stakes hero Call Me Midnight (Midnight Lute) and French Group 1...

SARATOGA SPRINGS -- Anyone who went by Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott's barn on the Oklahoma Training Track Friday morning did a double take. A jumbo-sized maple tree, which has stood tall for years outside Mott's office, was no more. Thanks to a violent display of weather Thursday night after Opening Day at Saratoga Race Course, the tree was uprooted and came crashing down. Part of the tree came to rest on the roof of Mott's office. Miraculously, there was no damage done to the office, which was unoccupied...

SARATOGA SPRINGS - There are several reasons trainer Miguel Clement has special feelings for the 5-year-old horse Far Bridge (English Channel), who runs in Saturday's $200,000 GII Bowling Green Stakes at Saratoga Race Course. The record Far Bridge has put together makes his trainer proud. Eight wins in 17 career starts, three second- and three third-place finishes. Career earnings of $2,262,980. He is a multiple Grade I winner. "He is very consistent," Clement said outside his barn at the Oklahoma Training Track Thursday morning. "He is a hard tryer; as...

SARATOGA SPRING, NY - Since racing began here in the 1860s, Saratoga has been a career launching pad for 2-year-old maidens. It should not be a surprise that the tradition continued last summer. Dozens and dozens of young horses destined for greatness picked up their first victories at the Spa. A very short list of those standouts includes: The filly Ruthless, winner of the inaugural running of the GI Belmont Stakes Aristides, who won the first GI Kentucky Derby Maskette Zev Triple Crown winner Gallant Fox Tom Fool Sword Dancer...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - And now for the main event. With nine days of racing already in the books--a proper warmup by any measure, topped by the GI Belmont Stakes--the 157th season of racing at Saratoga begins Thursday with a 10-race program. It is the earliest-possible start in the calendar-driven schedule for the 40-day season that closes on Labor Day Sept. 1. With one exception in 1982, in the 45 years after racing resumed at Saratoga in 1946 following World War II, Saratoga was what eventually came to be known...

SARATOGA SPRINGS - Early Sunday morning, trainer Tom Morley walked down his shedrow at his barn on the Saratoga backstretch. He stopped in front of a stall occupied by a curious looking dark bay colt named Donegal Momentum (Uncle Mo). Morley snuggled close to the 4-year-old, hugged him, kissed his neck. He has affection for all his horses, but, after what Donegal Momentum went through on Saturday, he deserved an extra dose of tender love and care. During Saturday's one-mile GIII Kelso Stakes on the Inner Turf course, Donegal Momentum...

In winning the $300,000 GIII Indiana Derby at Horseshoe Indianapolis Saturday, James Bakke and Gerald Isbister's Tip Top Thomas (c, 3, Volatile--Attempt to Name, by Consolidator) may have gotten a little redemption. Last summer and fall, the sky looked like the limit for Tip Top Thomas, who was named a 'TDN Rising Star' in a hard-fought head debut in an August maiden special weight at Saratoga, then came back for a runner-up finish to another 'Rising Star', Chancer McPatrick (McKinzie), in the GI Champagne Stakes. Fourth in his maiden win...