SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – It's a safe bet that when Dottie Ingordo-Shirreffs carried a blue ballcap to the stage for the Hall of Fame induction of her late husband, trainer John Shirreffs, Friday many of the people in the audience could see what was coming. To punctuate her acceptance speech, Ingordo-Shirreffs flung the cap into [...]

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — On his way to Hawaii to go surfing, John Shirreffs took a detour that led him to the Hall of Fame. Shirreffs's distinctive approach to training–which includes developing the incredibly popular Hall of Famer Zenyatta (Street Cry {Ire})–will be formally honored Friday when he is posthumously inducted into the National Museum [...]

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Coincidence introduced Valerie de Bona and Christophe Clement. It proved to be the serendipitous first step toward a marriage that brought them to America, where they raised their family and were partners in a Hall of Fame career training Thoroughbreds. Valerie, who laughs easily, chuckled as she described how an empty [...]

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.–Round three of the longest summer of racing in Saratoga starts Thursday with an 11-race program. Officially, the New York Racing Association designated Friday, July 3, as the opening day of the record 46-day Saratoga season. It was the earliest opening day in the 158 seasons at America's oldest track. A year ago, [...]

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – For the third time in four years, another entry in Journalism's (Curlin) story will be written close to the corner of Union and East avenues. In 2023, he was purchased as a yearling for $825,000 by the Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale. Last year, with a distinctive name [...]

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – It is time for another showdown at historic Saratoga Race Course. Golden Tempo (Curlin) and Renegade (Into Mischief), the top two finishers in the GI Kentucky Derby are poised for a rematch in the $2-million GI Belmont Stakes Saturday at America's oldest race track, where many titans of the sport have [...]

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – As a most memorable May gives way to June, trainer Cherie DeVaux believes that Golden Tempo (Curlin) is ready for his next challenge, the GI Belmont Stakes Saturday at Saratoga Race Course. Four weeks and three works after his dramatic victory in the GI Kentucky Derby, which secured DeVaux a forever [...]

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.–Big Dom's (McKinzie) gritty neck victory at Saratoga Race Course Saturday included a couple of noteworthy angles that had absolutely nothing to do with the running of the sixth race. Like his name. And his training partner. It took a strong performance from the Greenwell Thoroughbreds colt to edge Dr. Kapur (McKinzie) after [...]

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.–In the opener of the Travers Day program Saturday, Bottas (Vekoma) delivered a double maiden-breaking victory. Not only did he win his career debut in the $100,000 maiden special weight race for 2-year-olds, he notched the first triumph for the Dahman stable of Qatari businessman Abdulhadi Mana Al Hajri. With a last-to-first run [...]

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Though he was well aware of her pedigree, trainer Brad Cox said he didn't need a piece of paper to help him forecast Fille d'Oro's (Ire) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) future. “She didn't show us much on the dirt at Keeneland when she came in,” Cox said. “She struggled a little bit [...]

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — It took Teleport (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) a tad over 1:46.07 to break his maiden Sunday in the sixth race, which took a long time to start and even longer to go official. The $100,000 maiden special weight event at Saratoga Race Course provided an unusual situation in which Hall [...]

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – In the category of “Can You Top This Story?” Elza Mitchum and his son, Alex, have a solid contender for the prize. Their aptly named colt 'TDN Rising Star' It's Our Time (Not This Time) produced the Mitchums' tale Saturday with a 17 3/4-length victory in the seventh race at Saratoga [...]