Juvenile racing headlines the European scene on Saturday, with Newmarket hosting a pair of Group 1 sprints, the Cheveley Park and the Middle Park. Also carded is the Group 2 Royal Lodge over one mile, a race that regularly has produced Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf runners.
Royal Fixation, general antepost favorite at just less than 2-1 as of Thursday, looks like the right filly for the Cheveley Park, the filly-restricted companion race to the Middle Park and, on paper, a stronger heat this year.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Gustavo Rodriguez was standing outside his Belmont Park barn Thursday morning when a saddled horse from another stable, without a rider, came around the corner and was galloping toward him. Unfazed, Rodriguez easily apprehended the horse and returned him to his handlers.
Come Saturday, Rodriguez hopes his horse, Phileas Fogg, proves much harder to catch when he attempts to wire what is likely to be just two opponents in the Grade 2, $300,000 Woodward Stakes at Aqueduct.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The well-traveled Monster is back at Gulfstream Park, where he figures to be the solid choice against eight other 2-year-olds going five furlongs on the turf, weather permitting, in Saturday’s $75,000 Hollywood Beach Stakes. For the speedy youngster, the race could serve as a prep for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint on Oct. 31 at Del Mar.
After I am named king of American racing there will be so many beautiful changes. Like: You cannot enter the same horse in different races. And: You cannot scratch an entered horse without a doctor’s excuse. Why should customers have to guess who’s running where? I’m looking at you, Mr. Woodward.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The winners of the last three races in which Alogon has run are all top-class turf sprinters. That Ag Bullet, Bring Theband Home, and Doncho don’t appear in the entries of Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Belmont Turf Sprint Stakes at Aqueduct makes Alogon an attractive proposition in the six-furlong race.
The caveat is that Alogon is coming back three weeks after running a fast race in which he came up a neck short to Doncho in the $150,000 Da Hoss at Colonial Downs. Ned Allard, the veteran trainer of Alogon, does not seem concerned.
A year ago, Johannes was rated as the undisputed leading turf miler in California when he won the Grade 2 City of Hope Mile for his fourth consecutive stakes win.
On Saturday, Johannes needs a win in the $200,000 City of Hope Mile to record his first stakes win of an abbreviated 2025 campaign and gain a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Mile on Nov. 1 at Del Mar.
ARCADIA, Calif. – It’s showtime Saturday at Santa Anita for Full Serrano and First Mission, who waited all season to run in a race like the Grade 1 Goodwood Stakes.
Full Serrano, the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner who missed most of 2025, meets First Mission, the $2 million earner who is missing an important element from his résumé – a Grade 1 win.
Full Serrano and First Mission tower over the 1 1/8-mile Goodwood, a Win and You’re In for the Breeders’ Cup Classic and the headline race on a card with Breeders’ Cup ramifications across several divisions.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The well-traveled and tried Patriot Spirit comes to New York searching for his first graded stakes win and a spot in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint when he runs in Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Vosburgh Stakes at Aqueduct.
Patriot Spirit, a 4-year-old son of Constitution, has raced at seven tracks and at seven distances in his 14-race career. He has won three times at Colonial Downs, with two of those wins coming at seven furlongs, the distance of the Vosburgh.
Geometry will make his return to the East Coast in the $150,000 Kent Stakes on Saturday at Delaware Park. After a fourth-place finish in the Grade 2 Del Mar Derby last month, trainer Jonathan Thomas said his 3-year-old gelding may have star potential.
“He’s going to need to run respectably here against this group to think about going to the next level,” Thomas said. “But certainly he’s suggesting he could be a quality horse.”
Banishing won’t win the Breeders’ Cup Classic. He doesn’t really want 1 1/4 miles, and isn’t quite good enough. But if you’re looking for a paragon of durability, versatility, and credibility, look no further than Banishing, who makes his 10th start this year on Saturday in the Grade 2, $500,000 Lukas Classic at Churchill Downs.
