Todd Pletcher

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY - Though the GI Coaching Club American Oaks Saturday is short on depth, it is long on star power with Secret Oath (Arrogate) and D. Wayne Lukas taking on Nest (Curlin) and his long-ago former assistant Todd Pletcher. The rematch of the most accomplished 3-year-old fillies in the land puts two Hall of Fame trainers, very friendly rivals indeed, back together on the big stage of Saratoga Race Course. Seventy-nine days after Secret Oath beat favored Nest by two lengths in the GI Kentucky Oaks, the stars...

1st-Saratoga, $105,000, Msw, 7-21, 3yo/up, 6f, 1:10.87, sy, 4 1/4 lengths. UP TO THE MARK (c, 3, Not This Time--Belle's Finale, by Ghostzapper) tipped his hand with a well-touted local worktab, highlighted by a half-mile gate move over the training track in :48 flat (3/37) July 7, and was backed down to 9-10 favoritism. Tracking the pace from a three-wide third through a :22.44 quarter, the $450,000 Keeneland September grad drew in on the pacesetter alongside Be There (Medaglia d'Oro) passing a half in :45.83, and those two went on...

Shadwell Stable's Malathaat (Curlin), who came up just a head short of Clairiere (Curlin) when second in the June 11 GI Ogden Phipps S. last time out, tuned up for the July 24 GII Shuvee S. with a four-furlong work in :49.22 (44/113) in company Sunday at Saratoga. Last year's GI Kentucky Oaks winner and champion 3-year-old filly, who has won seven of 10 lifetime starts, will be adding blinkers for her third start of the year next Sunday. "She seems a little more locked in and a little more...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY - Todd Pletcher and Chad Brown were both quite busy Saturday morning at Saratoga, working some of their respective stables' top stars. GI Belmont S. runner-up Nest (Curlin) turned in her final breeze Saturday morning before her rematch with Secret Oath (Arrogate) July 23 in the GI Coaching Club American Oaks. Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher said the filly "worked really well" after she covered five furlongs in company with champion Corniche (Quality Road) in 1:01.44 under jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. on the main track. Secret...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY - Like it was putting on a comfortable pair of shoes, racing oh-so easily slipped back into Saratoga Race Course Thursday for what turned into a warm, bright, feel-good season opener. The 10-race program that started during a brief rain storm before playing out in sunshine, did not deliver the expected storybook type of result in the featured GIII Schuylerville S., though. Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, absent from America's oldest track for two seasons, watched Summer Promise (Uncle Mo), the 6-5 favorite, finish second...

Every week, the TDN publishes a roundup of key official rulings from the primary tracks within the four major racing jurisdictions of California, New York, Florida and Kentucky. This week's appear below. Here's a primer on how each of these jurisdictions adjudicates different offenses, what they make public (or not) and where. California Track: Los Alamitos Date: 07/04/2022 Licensee: Diego Herrera, jockey Penalty: One-day suspension, $250 fine Violation: Excessive use of the whip Explainer: Having violated the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority Rule #2280 (Use of Riding Crop) and pursuant to...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY--For the last dozen or so years, the competition for the training title at Saratoga Race Course has become the Todd and Chad Show. The next round of the now-annual summer showdown of heavyweights in upstate New York between Todd Pletcher and Chad Brown begins Thursday, the opening day of the 154th season of racing at Saratoga. Pletcher, 55, the all-time leader, will seek his 15th championship, named to honor the late great H. Allen Jerkens. Brown, 43, who just completed a record-smashing Belmont spring/summer season, is seeking...

In a stretch-long battle reminiscent of the 2019 GI Jockey Club Gold Cup, in which the Todd Pletcher-trained Vino Rosso (Curlin) was controversially taken down for interfering with the Shug McGaughey-conditioned Code of Honor (Noble Mission {GB}), the former's Dynamic One (Union Rags) outslugged McGaughey's 'TDN Rising Star' First Captain (Curlin) to eke out the victory in Saturday's GII Suburban S. at Belmont Park. The rail-drawn Untreated (Nyquist) hit the ground running and enjoyed an easy time of things up front, as defending champion Max Player (Honor Code) applied only...

Edited Press Release The 13th annual jockeys-versus-horsemen charity basketball game, which benefits the programs of the New York Race Track Chaplaincy (NYRTC), will be played Thursday, Aug. 4, 2022, at the Saratoga Springs Recreation Center at 6:30 p.m. The game is one of the most popular events on the Saratoga social calendar and routinely attracts more than 300 fans. Admission is free. The jockey team will once again be coached by Hall of Fame jockey Angel Cordero, Jr., with trainer Todd Pletcher and agent Kiaran McLaughlin coaching the horsemen team....

by Stefanie Grimm & Patrycja Szpyra With the Fourth of July holiday weekend in the rear-view mirror, the summer turf season kicks into high gear starting with a pair of Grade I's at Belmont Park Saturday. The home team takes on a new wave of European challengers in the 1 1/4-mile GI Caesars Belmont Derby Invitational S., the first leg of the Caesars Turf Triple Series. Tiz the Bomb (Hit It a Bomb), last seen finishing ninth behind longshot GI Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike (Keen Ice), finally gets back...

Team Valor International's Green Up romped to an effortless victory in the Boiling Springs S. at Monmouth Park Sunday. The 3-2 shot was under a snug hold while setting fractions of :24.77 and :49.26 in a compact field of four. She skipped clear down the lane to score under wraps. "My thought was just to go to the lead since she looked like the only speed in the race," said winning jockey Paco Lopez. "Todd Pletcher told me to do whatever I felt comfortable doing. She jumped a little at...

The connections of impressive Saturday graded stakes winners Life Is Good (Into Mischief) and Olympiad (Speightstown) reported Sunday that both horses came out of their efforts well and are likely headed for a star-studded matchup in the Aug. 6 GI Whitney S. at Saratoga. Life Is Good, this year's GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational S. romper, bounced back from a fourth-place finish in the G1 Dubai World Cup with a dominant five-length score in Saturday's GII John Nerud S. at Belmont, earning a 112 Beyer, tied for the second-highest figure...