Whitney

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.-'TDN Rising Stars' Fierceness (City of Light) or Mindframe (Constitution) in the GI $1 million Whitney Stakes? Will one of them be running or will it be both? Those questions got definitive answers Saturday morning outside Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher's barn on the Oklahoma Training Track. When entries are taken for the meet's marquee race for older horses on Sunday, both horses names will be front and center, but it will be Fierceness who carries the flag for Pletcher and the ownership group of Mike Repole's...

Reigning champion 3-year-old colt and 'TDN Rising Star' Sierra Leone (Gun Runner), second last out in the GI Stephen Foster on June 28 at Churchill Downs, worked a half-mile in :48.80 (52/167) Saturday to the inside of Secured Lender over the Spa main track. The Chad Brown runner is expected to start in next Saturday's GI Whitney Stakes, a 'Win and You're In' race for the GI Breeders' Classic in November at Del Mar. "He worked super. It was just maintenance," Brown said. "He's bounced out of the Stephen Foster...

Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance will return to Saratoga during the first week of August to highlight accredited aftercare through a variety of initiatives at both Saratoga Race Course and Fasig-Tipton, the TAA announced Thursday. The organization will participate in events during Whitney weekend, which includes the GI Whitney Stakes, and will remain active through the Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearling Sale the following week. The New York Racing Association will feature Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance as its Community Partner during Whitney weekend and TAA will also be present at NYRA's Community Outreach Booth on...

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...

Stall applications for the July 4th Racing Festival and 40-day summer meet at Saratoga Race Course are now available online, the New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) announced in a press release Friday. Typically held at Belmont Park, the July 4th Racing Festival at Saratoga is set for Thursday, July 3, through Sunday, July 6. The July 4th Racing Festival, which is highlighted by the GI Belmont Derby Invitational July 4 and the GI Belmont Oaks Invitational July 5, will serve as a prelude to the traditional summer meet and...

Recently-pensioned stallion and G1 Dubai World Cup winner Roses In May (Devil His Due) died Tuesday at Japan's Big Red Farm according to a report by Japanese media Wednesday. An article linked on social media reads in part: "Roses in May died on the evening of the 4th due to inability to stand. During his active career, he won the GI Whitney Handicap in 2004 and the G1 Dubai World Cup in 2005, and became a breeding stallion at Big Red Farm, siring Dream Valentino, who won five major races...

Bright Future (Curlin), a last out winner of the Salvator Mile Stakes at Monmouth June 15, posted his final work in preparation for next Saturday's GI Whitney, covering a half-mile in :48.75 (32/104) Saturday over the Saratoga Race Course main track. Trained by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, last year's GI Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes winner went in company with MGSW and Whitney possible Charge It (Tapit). "He worked well and I'm happy with him," Pletcher said. "Charge It also went well. I think Bright Future is training great and...

West Will Power (Bernardini), a last-out winner of the GI Stephen Foster S., worked five furlongs in 1:02.24 (1/4) in company with the stakes-placed Tapit Shoes (Tapit) for trainer Brad Cox over Saratoga's Oklahoma training track Saturday. West Will Power, owned and bred by Gary and Mary West, is under consideration for either next Saturday's GI Whitney S. or the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup Sept. 2 at the Spa. "It's a very prestigious race. It means a lot," Cox said of the Whitney. "We'll see how things unfold after...

Cody's Wish (Curlin) worked five furlongs in 1:00 (1/15) Saturday over the Oklahoma training track in preparation for the $1-million GI Whitney Aug. 5. The Godolphin homebred is currently on a six-race winning streak topped by a powerful 3 1/4-length score last out in the GI Hill 'n' Dale Metropolitan H. June 10 at Belmont Park. "He was very good. He went five eighths and went well and appeared to be well within himself," Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott said. "We're uncertain about the nine furlongs (in the Whitney),...

The New York Racing Association, Inc. has announced post times for the 2023 40-day summer meet at historic Saratoga Race Course, which will include 71 stakes worth $20.8 million in total purses. Highlighted by the GI Travers S. card Aug. 26, the 2023 summer meet will open on Thursday, July 13 and continue through Monday, Sept. 4. Following the four-day opening weekend, racing will be conducted five days a week, Wednesdays through Sundays, apart from the final week, when the meet will conclude on Labor Day. First post time is...

It was a banner weekend for Godolphin homebreds during the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival. Cody's Wish (Curlin) added another chapter to racing's feel-good story with a powerful, come-from-behind victory in the stallion-making GI Hill 'N' Dale Metropolitan H. The GI Kentucky Oaks winner and 'TDN Rising Star' Pretty Mischievous (Into Mischief) validated her upset neck victory on the first Friday in May with a heart-stopping victory in the GI Acorn S. The up-and-coming Loved (Medaglia d'Oro)--a 4-year-old half-sister to MGISW and young Darley stallion Maxfield (Street Sense)--made it three straight...