Saratoga Notebook

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - All summer long, Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher has fielded questions, seemingly daily, about the two marquee older horses that live in his barn at the Oklahoma Training Track. The goal, Pletcher said, was to keep Fierceness (City of Light) and Mindframe (Constitution) as far apart from each other as possible. On the racetrack that is. Mission accomplished. That weekend is here, and the two 4-year-olds are spending it on opposite ends of the country. Fierceness is in California to run in the GI, $1...

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. -- Earlier this week, owner Mike Repole took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to ask for help. He wanted to know what he should do with the two of the best older horses in the country, both, coincidentally, that he owns. Mindframe (Constitution) and Fierceness (City of Light). What to do with them next weekend? The options are simple enough. The $1 million GI Pacific Classic is being run at Del Mar in California next Saturday. The $1 million GI Jockey Club Gold Cup is being...

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 -- She would have been the likely favorite in next Saturday's $500,000 GI Ballerina Stakes at Saratoga Race Course. But that point is moot now. 'TDN Rising Star' Ways and Means (Practical Joke) won't run. Trainer Chad Brown delivered the news Thursday morning at his barn on the Oklahoma Training Track. "Unfortunately, she got sick," Brown said, sitting at his desk in his office. "She's sick, she's not running. Next question. There is nothing to talk about. She's going to miss the race." Brown was forced to...

SARATOGA SPRINGS - As Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott watched Sovereignty (Into Mischief) gobble up ground on the Oklahoma Training Track from afar Saturday morning, his mind drifted back to maybe the best horse he ever trained. Sovereignty, working for the first time since winning the GII Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga on July 26, went four furlongs in :48.99 (117/65) and galloped out in 1:02 2/5. Assistant trainer Neil Poznansky was on board. Mott had accompanied Sovereignty to the Oklahoma aboard his pony, Rocky. "Coming to the wire,...

SARATOGA SPRINGS -- Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse needed a very good reason to miss next weekend's prestigious $1-million Listed King's Plate at Woodbine. Actually, he has two of them. Casse will miss Canada's oldest thoroughbred horse race--one has won three times--because he's staying in Saratoga to try and win the $600,000 GI Alabama Stakes for the first time. He will be well represented by La Cara (Street Sense) and Nitrogen (Medaglia d'Oro) in Saratoga's premier race for 3-year-old fillies. The King's Plate at Woodbine and Alabama are both...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - When the question came out on the rail at the Oklahoma Training Track Thursday morning, trainer Miguel Clement smiled. But he was not about to give an answer to who is his favorite horse in his barn. That will stay with him. When the name of 'TDN Rising Star' Far Bridge (English Channel) was suggested, Clement smiled some more. "He is definitely up there," Clement said. As well he should. Far Bridge, owned by LSU Stables, shows up whenever Clement puts the saddle on the 5-year-old....

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- There have been some days for trainer Chad Brown. Some real big days. Remember Arlington Million day in 2019? He won all four graded stakes races, including all three GI races. He has won a bushel full of Breeders' Cup races in his career; more than once he has had multiple winners. Brown has a pair of GI Preakness Stakes on his resume. What happened Saturday might just trump them all. At his hometown track, Brown blitzed his competition, winning four races, capped off by the...