Mo Plex

The cars scooting along on the nearby Pennsylvania Turnpike may have little from a speed standpoint on Saturday's GI Pennsylvania Derby in Northeast Philly, as the pace looks to be very much on and that could help those with stalking or closing ability in the final age-restricted Grade I of the season around two turns. But make no mistake: speed has been king--by and large--in the $1-million contest over the past dozen years or so. The Bob Baffert-trained Bayern (Offlee Wild)--next-out winner of a much-discussed GI Breeders' Cup Classic--future champion...

C R K Stable and Grandview Equine's Baeza (McKinzie), third to Sovereignty (Into Mischief) in the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Belmont Stakes and a latest second to the divisional leader in the GII Jim Dandy Stakes, and Gosger (Nyquist), runner-up to Journalism (Curlin) in the GI Preakness Stakes and when last seen in the GI Haskell Invitational Stakes in mid-July, drew gates eight and nine, respectively, in a field of 10 for Saturday's $1-million GI Pennsylvania Derby at Parx Racing north and east of Central Philadelphia. The human connections...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Two years ago, the GI Whitney Stakes was a whiteout. As in White Abarrio (Race Day), who crushed the field by 6 1/4 lengths. Fast forward to now and White Abarrio is back for another run in Saturday's $1 million Whitney, the premier race for older horses at the 40-day meet at Saratoga Race Course. The 6-year-old horse will look to shrug off a disappointing fourth place finish in the GI Met Mile last month and prove to his trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. that he deserves...

Ninety-five years ago, a horse named Jim Dandy upset Triple Crown winner Gallant Fox at odds of 100-1 in the GI Travers Stakes at Saratoga. Saturday, with the traditional Travers prep race now named in honor of that monumental beating, the team behind GI Kentucky Derby and GI Belmont Stakes winner Sovereignty (Into Mischief) reminded everyone why their colt is the top of the class, avoiding any drama to take the GII Jim Dandy Stakes. Not that there was ever any doubt. With GI Preakness Stakes winner Journalism (Curlin) 3,000...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Howard Read chuckled as he recalled the instructions he gave trainer Jeremiah Englehart, who was shopping for a New York-bred at the 2024 OBS April Sale. "To get somebody we could get on the track last summer and actually win," Read said, "rather than buying a horse and then letting him work out for a few months and then maybe get him on the track in September, or something like that, which happens all too often. I said, 'Let's get us one that's ready to go.'...

The late-striding Journalism (Curlin) is developing a knack for snatching Grade I victories from the jaws of defeat, but he has yet to be able to solve the riddle known as Sovereignty (Into Mischief). On Saturday at Monmouth Park, this athletic colt did his part to edge us closer to a possible Round 3 rematch of the top two finishers of the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Belmont Stakes. But on Sunday, with Journalism shipping back to California, the colt's connections made no commitment either way about renewing their rivalry...

Multiple graded winner Mo Plex (Complexity) continued his preparations for the GII Jim Dandy Stakes Friday morning at Saratoga while MGSW Echo Sound (Echo Town) has her eyes on the GI Test Stakes with her own move over the Oklahoma training track. New York-bred Mo Plex went out on Saratoga's main track Friday morning for a half-mile work in :48.84 (22/74) for trainer Jeremiah Englehart. The solo work under Manny Franco, who will have the call in the Jim Dandy, was exactly what the conditioner wanted to see. "The plan...

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--When Neil Poznansky, sitting on the back of GI Kentucky Derby and GI Belmont Stakes champion Sovereignty (Into Mischief), saw jockey Junior Alvarado early Friday morning, he wore a wide smile. "How'd I do?" Poznansky said. Alvarado grinned back. No answer necessary. Sovereignty did what Poznansky, Alvarado and Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott wanted to see as he had his second work since winning the Belmont last month. Working in company with 4-year-old stablemate Jefferson Street (Street Sense), Sovereignty and Poznansky, Mott's assistant, covered four furlongs in :48.99...

He may have taken a right turn out of the starting gate and drifted in the lane, but Mo Plex (c, 3, Complexity--Mo Joy, by Uncle Mo) made a beeline for the finish line in the nine-furlong GIII Ohio Derby, gliding through his first attempt at two turns with efficacy. Chunk of Gold (Preservationist), recently profiled on these pages after his GI Kentucky Derby ninth, was second, while McAfee (Cloud Computing), the GIII Peter Pan Stakes runner-up and half to Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna), was third....

It's rare for things to go exactly according to plan in the Kentucky Derby. Trainer Ethan West learned that lesson about five seconds into his first attempt. In the past, Chunk of Gold (Preservationist) had done his best work coming from off the pace, but in the Derby he broke sharply and, with Jareth Loveberry aboard, found himself just behind the frontrunners heading into the first turn. "That was not on the bingo card," West admitted. "We were hoping to be mid-pack and Jareth would find a nice little hole...

A two-horse race in the wagering played out exactly as the public saw it going with Sacrosanct (Honest Mischief) getting the best of his GSW/GISP rival Mo Plex (Complexity) in Sunday's Sleepy Hollow Stakes to kick off the stakes action for Empire Showcase Day at Belmont's Aqueduct meet. A debut winner at Saratoga, Sacrosanct unleashed on the field in the Bertram F. Bongard Stakes last out Sept. 22, wiring an over-matched group by 12 lengths to set up Sunday's showdown in a step up in distance facing Mo Plex who...