Travers

The Oklahoma Training Track at historic Saratoga Race Course will open for the 2023 season on Monday, Apr. 17, the New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) announced Wednesday. The Oklahoma barn area will open to licensed trainers and staff beginning Saturday, Apr. 15. Prior to the start of the 2023 summer meet, the Whitney Viewing Stand, which overlooks the Oklahoma track, will be open to the public free of charge on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays beginning Friday, Apr. 21 from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. Highlighted by the GI Travers...

The stakes schedule for the 2023 summer meet at historic Saratoga Race Course will include 71 stakes worth $20.8 million in total purses, the New York Racing Association announced Tuesday. Highlighted by the 154th renewal of the $1.25-million GI Travers Aug. 26 and the $1-million GI Whitney Aug. 5, the 40-day summer meet will open Thursday, July 13 and continue through Monday, Sept. 4. Whitney Day provides a trio of Grade I events, including the GI Test S. and the GI Saratoga Derby Invitational. The Travers Festival offers nine stakes...

Business is booming at Taylor Made, not just because of the company's continued status as the largest sales consignor in the country, but also on the stallion side with the continued ascent of their young star sire Not This Time. Tuesday, Taylor Made CEO joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland as the Green Group Guest of the Week to talk about Not This Time's newest Grade I winner in Runhappy Travers S. romper Epicenter, his team's approach to yearling sales and more. "You can never predict that a...

Winchell Thoroughbreds' MGSW and GI Kentucky Derby and GI Preakness S. runner-up Epicenter (Not This Time) drew post six in a field of eight and was installed as a significant 7-5 favorite in Saturday's 153rd renewal of the $1.25 million GI Runhappy Travers S. The Steve Asmussen pupil, last seen producing a dazzling late-to-first kick to capture the local GII Jim Dandy S. July 30, will be ridden by regular jockey Joel Rosario, who missed most of the past week of racing at Saratoga with an illness. Given the second-choice nod at...

There was both positive and negative news coming out of the Todd Pletcher barn Sunday morning, as 'TDN Rising Star' Charge It (Tapit) will be forced to miss next Saturday's GI Runhappy Travers S., but GI Alabama S. romper Nest (Curlin) was in fine fettle after her Saturday romp. Whisper Hill homebred Charge It, a jaw-dropping 23-length winner of the GIII Dwyer S. at Belmont July 2, missed a scheduled breeze Saturday morning due to a front right foot abscess and galloped Sunday morning. "He galloped super, but you could...

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...

He has yet to run this year, which has turned GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner Corniche (Quality Road) into the forgotten horse in the 3-year-old male division. That, however, may be about to change. Corniche has had two recent works at WinStar Farm and, according to Marette Farrell, an advisor to owners K.C. Weiner and Peter Fluor, the colt will return to the racetrack within a couple of weeks. "His last work at WinStar [four furlongs in :48.94 last Saturday], they said that it was an 'A' work," Farrell said....

How very apt, that a Saratoga card also featuring a race named in her honor should culminate Saturday in a GI Runhappy Travers S. bearing a twin imprint of the legacy of Personal Ensign. Both Dynamic One (Union Rags) and Miles D (Curlin), one-two in the Curlin S. last month, trace their ancestry to the Hall of Fame mare: Dynamic One's mother is out of Personal Ensign's granddaughter Storm Flag Flying (Storm Cat); while Miles D's dam is Storm Flag Flying's unraced half-sister Sound the Trumpets (Bernardini). But if nobody...

Kiaran McLaughlin surprised much of the racing world last year when he abruptly decided to halt his massively successful training career in order to become the jockey's agent for Luis Saez. But it shouldn't surprise anyone to see the success McLaughlin has had handling Saez's book, as the 29-year-old Panamanian is poised to win his first Saratoga riding title. Wednesday, McLaughlin joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland to talk about why he made his career shift, the booming results of his partnership with Saez, memories of triumphs in...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY--Four-time GI Runhappy Travers S.-winning trainer Shug McGaughey said Thursday that First Captain (Curlin) will not run in Saratoga's signature race Aug. 28. Godoplphin's Essential Quality (Tapit), the winner of seven of eight career starts, including the GI Belmont S., is the headliner for the 152nd running of the $1.25 million Travers. Though the chestnut colt is fine following his third-place finish in the Curlin S. July 30, McGaughey decided to pass on the Travers and point to the GI Pennsylvania Derby Sept. 25. "I just don't think...

The New York Racing Association announced post times for the 40-day summer meet at historic Saratoga, which will feature 76 stakes worth $21.5 million in total purses. With the exception of Travers Day, Whitney Day and closing weekend, first post on live race days will be 1:05 p.m. First post for the GI Runhappy Travers Day card Aug. 28 will be 11:35 a.m. GI Whitney S. Day Aug. 7 kicks off with a 12:35 p.m. first post. Closing weekend of the Saratoga meet will offer a 12:35 p.m. post time...

Essential Quality (Tapit) got great marks from trainer Brad Cox the morning after the colt triumphed in a strong renewal of the GI Belmont S., and Cox said the Godolphin homebred will be pointed next to the GI Runhappy Travers S. Aug. 28 at Saratoga. The Belmont victory marked the first Grade I win as a sophomore for last year's champion 2-year-old male and offered a measure of redemption for the gray, who was the beaten favorite when fourth in last month's GI Kentucky Derby, his first career defeat. "He...