Remsen Stakes

'TDN Rising Star' Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) checked off quite a few boxes on his GI Kentucky Derby development checklist with Saturday's half-length score in the GII Risen Star S. at Fair Grounds. In just his third career start, he handled shipping away from his home base, winning as the 5-2 favorite off an 11-week layoff, rating from mid-pack while equipped with blinkers for the first time, and racing under the lights on a sloppy, sealed and eerily shadowy track. And yet, jockey Tyler Gaffalione still believes there's room for...

Dornoch (Good Magic)'s determined victory in the GII Remsen S. Saturday at Aqueduct has Danny Gargan mapping out possible paths to next year's GI Kentucky Derby, but the trainer admitted his charge has plenty of growing up to do if he is to make it to Churchill Downs on the First Saturday of next May. Dornoch, who set swift fractions in the nine-furlong race Saturday, appeared defeated with a furlong to run when he bumped the rail and allowed Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) to surge past him. But Dornoch battled...

Owner Mike Repole purchased a minority interest in GI Kentucky Derby contender and GII Wood Memorial S. winner Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo), ownership group Donegal Racing announced Friday. The price and ownership stake were not disclosed. Mo Donegal, a $250,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase, captured Aqueduct's GII Remsen S. over future GI Toyota Blue Grass winner Zandon (Upstart). Third in the Feb. 5 GIII Holy Bull S. behind White Abarrio (Race Day) and Simplification (Not This Time), he returned to New York Apr. 9 for the Wood Memorial S., rallying...

A Monday news story in the Blood-Horse stating that the New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC) would be taking no action on a formal protest lodged by the owner of the runner-up in the Dec. 4 GII Remsen S. came as a surprise to that owner and his attorney, who told TDN later in the day they had received no communication from the commission indicating that the protest wouldn't be allowed to advance. The matter involves Jeff Drown, the owner of Remsen second-place finisher Zandon (Upstart), who said that the...

The Jorge Navarro case was back in the news last week as lawyers representing the federal government submitted a sentencing letter regarding the disgraced trainer to Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil. They recommended that Navarro get the maximum allowable sentence for doping racehorses under his care, five years. He will be sentenced Friday. The government lawyers did their job and they did it well, and they want no mercy for the Juice Man. Read the sentencing letter and the first conclusion you will come to is probably the same one I...

The owner of the runner-up in last Saturday's GII Remsen S. at Aqueduct has lodged a protest with the New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC) over the stewards' non-disqualification of the winner by a nose in that race after both an inquiry and a jockey's foul claim regarding the stretch run. Dave Grening of Daily Racing Form first reported the news on Thursday. He quoted Jeff Drown, the owner of second-place finisher Zandon (Upstart), who said that the actions of victor Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo) and that colt's jockey, Irad...

Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo) and Zandon (Upstart)--the top two choices in Saturday's GII Remsen S. at the Big A--both entered off promising last-out maiden victories and put on a show down the stretch with the former getting there by a hard-fought nose while surviving a stewards' inquiry in the process. The rail-drawn, 7-5 chance Mo Donegal sat the trip in an inside fourth through easy fractions of :25.18 and :51.47 established by longshot Fromanothamutha (Unified). Locked and loaded beneath the hot-handed Irad Ortiz, Jr. rounding the far turn, he swung...

Donegal Racing's Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo) will go postward as the likely favorite Saturday in Aqueduct's GII Remsen S. Third on debut sprinting at Belmont Sept. 30, the $250,000 KEESEP acquisition earned his diploma when extended to a route of ground at Big Sandy Oct. 21, earning an 82 Beyer Speed Figure. "We feel like the mile and an eighth will suit him well," trainer Todd Pletcher said. "He had a good work at Belmont last week. It seems like the further he goes, the better he gets." Chad Brown...

The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's 2-year-old sales attract all the heavyweights in the business, people who are ready to spend millions and have proven records of picking out future stars. Then there is Mark Schwartz. Schwartz arrived at this year's OBS Spring sale with a modest budget and ready to buy a horse at a sale for the first time. A Brooklyn-born retiree living in Florida, he knew the odds were not in his favor. "I did my research, but this was kind of like playing the lottery," he said....

Pickin' Time (Stay Thirsty) upset the GIII Nashua S. on his last visit to Aqueduct Nov. 8 and he looks to double up Saturday when he returns to Ozone Park for the GII Remsen S. A debut winner at Monmouth July 4, the Jersey-bred was a non-factor eighth in the GII Saratoga Special S. Aug. 7, but was second next out in the Sapling S. back in the Garden State Sept. 6. The dark bay scored a narrow winner in the Smoke Glacken S. at the Jersey Shore Sept. 26...