SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – A little after 7:00 Sunday morning, Bill Mott walked down the shedrow of his barn at the Oklahoma Training Track and peered into the stall of his comeback kid, Sovereignty (Into Mischief). “He's sleeping,” Mott said with a laugh to a couple of writers. Sovereignty certainly deserved the shut eye after [...]

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Irad Ortiz Jr., the four-time defending jockey champion at Saratoga, will not ride on Sunday after injuring his left foot on Saturday. Steve Rushing, Ortiz's agent, said the 33-year-old rider is day-to-day following the incident before the eighth race Saturday. “I talked to him this morning and he's doing good,” Rushing [...]

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – It was just another routine morning for GI Kentucky Derby and GI Belmont Stakes champ Golden Tempo (Curlin) Saturday at Saratoga Race Course. The colt, working in company with stablemate Paige Turner (Army Mule), a 3-year-old filly, who was ridden by Ameth Gonzalez, worked four furlongs in :48.94 (22/56) just after [...]

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Jose Ortiz, one of the top jockeys on the planet, can't be on two horses at once. When a quandary pops up–like it did before the GI, $1-million Whitney Stakes–Ortiz defers to Steve Rushing, his high-powered agent, to make the call. The decision they had to make was which horse to [...]

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Todd Pletcher is going to have to wait at least one more day before he can be called Mr. 6,000. The Hall of Fame trainer is one win away from reaching that lofty number for career training wins. “I have not spent a lot of time thinking about it,” Pletcher said [...]

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – It's not a done deal by any means, but trainer Chad Summers is taking a long, hard look at running GI Preakness Stakes winner Napoleon Solo (Liam's Map) in the GI DK Travers Stakes Aug. 29. “We are strongly considering the Travers,” Summers said on the Saratoga backstretch Wednesday morning. “The [...]

Johnny (don't call him John; we'll explain) Velazquez has been as solid a jockey who has ever called Saratoga Race Course his summer stage. He is the all-time leading rider at arguably the most competitive race meet in the world. The other day, he set a personal milestone with his 800th career graded stakes win. [...]

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – By Mike Repole's count, it was going to be a party of 55 at the Jim Dandy celebration dinner at Nove Restaurant Saturday night. Maybe add 20 or so hangers-on who became honorary Repole groupies during a day that the owner won four races. The biggest, of course, was the $500,000 [...]

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Lance Gasaway heard his phone pinging long before his 2-year-old colt Twinkle Town (Take Charge Indy) completed his six-length win in the 121st running of the $250,000 GII Saratoga Special Saturday afternoon at Saratoga Race Course. That's because a small rural town in Lincoln County in Arkansas–Star City–was going bananas. Here's [...]

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — It's simple, really. When asked to give an assessment of his 3-year-old colt Commandment (Into Mischief), his trainer Brad Cox didn't need a lot of words. “He tries hard, he is very honest,” Cox said after watching horses train on the Oklahoma Training Track. There you have it. Commandment, owned by [...]

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – It doesn't take long for Gus Rodriguez, the trainer of Phileas Fogg (Astern {Aus}) to come up with a reason why his horse is targeting the $1 million GI Whitney Stakes a week from Saturday at Saratoga. Forget the fact that his speedy Kentucky-bred will be taking on the grizzlies of [...]

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY — With 30 days left in the longest meet in the history of Saratoga Race Course, trainer Brad Cox is on pace to have the best summer of his career. But he harbors no intentions of walking out of here on Labor Day as the leading trainer at the marquee summer meet [...]