Saratoga Notebook Presented By NYRA

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Last Friday, trainer David Jacobson watched as his ultra-consistent 5-year-old gelding Banishing (Ghostzapper) won the $1-million GII Charles Town Classic Stakes by 2 1/4 lengths. Jacobson is toying with the idea of bringing Banishing back to the races on Sunday to run in the $1-million GI Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes at Saratoga. All signs are pointing that way: the horse has already shipped up to the Spa and Jacobson entered Banishing in the race. He is among the nine horses that were entered Wednesday, which...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - At 6:30 Sunday morning, Sovereignty (Into Mischief), the hero of the 156h GI, $1.25 million Travers Stakes, was out and about around the Hall of Fame barn of trainer Bill Mott at the Oklahoma Training Track The 3-year-old colt, fresh off his resounding 10-length win in the Travers, grazed in the courtyard at the barn, looking like he could run another 1 ¼ miles later in the day. The margin of victory is tied for the fourth largest in Travers history. Sovereignty's blowout win was the...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N. Y. - A year ago, Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) buzzed through her season, winning six of seven starts--five of them Grade Is--on her way to Horse of the Year honors. Kenny McPeek, Thorpedo Anna's trainer, says his stable star is just as good, if not better, than she was a year ago. The 4-year-old filly, still as popular as ever, will get the chance to prove it on Saturday when she runs in the GI, $500,000 Personal Ensign Stakes at Saratoga Race Course. "Every bit," McPeek said...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - A year ago, trainer Chad Brown thought he had his best chance ever when he ran 'TDN Rising Star' Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) in the $1.25-million GI Travers Stakes. The best he could do as the 8-5 favorite was a third-place finish. Brown accepted the verdict and vowed that he would keep trying to win the Midsummer Derby, a race he grew up with. The 46-year-old Brown grew up in the shadow of Saratoga Race Course, in nearby Mechanicville, so, of course, the Travers is the...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - As expected, the field for Saturday's 156th running of the $1.25-million GI Travers Stakes will be a small one. That is because the best 3-year-old in the country, Sovereignty (Into Mischief) is running. Only four others will challenge Godolphin's Sovereignty, who is trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott and ridden by Junior Alvarado. The last time only five horses were entered for the Travers was in 1994 when Holy Bull (Great Above) won. The smallest field in Travers history was two horses and that happened...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - When the horse who became known as Barnes (Into Mischief) came into the barn of Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert a couple years ago, there was hype. That happens when the price tag he brought at the 2023 Fasig-Tipton Select Yearling Sale read $3.2 million. And to make things even more interesting, the horse was named for Jimmy Barnes, Baffert's long-time assistant. "Oh, that pressure is gone," Baffert said with a laugh by phone from his summer base at Del Mar. Big things were expected...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY--The cell phone rang, and, on the other end, Mike Repole was rolling. "I've won the Alabama twice, I've won the Jim Dandy three times ... I have to pinch myself," Repole, his rat-a-tat-tat all-Queens accent working in overdrive, said from his summer home in New England. "I've won the Coaching Club (American Oaks) twice. I've won the Hopeful ... to win the Travers once in your life is one in a million. I've won it twice, so it's one in a billion!" And a pause. In the...