Early Saturday evening, the trainer Riley Mott made an unscripted appearance on national television as a relatively composed though clearly thrilled member of the victory entourage surrounding his father, Bill Mott, who had just sent Sovereignty out to win the Belmont Stakes at Saratoga.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Thursday’s Woodbine headliner looks like it will set up for Roi Soleil if the closer produces one of his better performances in the conditioned allowance.
Roi Soleil has two wins and a second from three five-furlong turf starts, including an allowance score over the local inner course on which Thursday’s feature will be contested at that distance. He was claimed from his winning Dec. 15 outing for $40,000 by trainer Phil Hall on behalf of Telford Farms, after which he got the winter off.
The comeback kids are alive and well after Game 1 of the NBA Finals thanks to Tyrese Haliburton.
The Indiana Pacers, who would become the biggest underdogs to ever win the NBA Finals if they win three of the next six games, stunned the Oklahoma City Thunder as 9.5-point underdogs with yet another against-all-odds victory in the series opener. Haliburton sealed the deal with a pull-up jumper with 0.3 seconds remaining after the Pacers trailed by as many as 15 points in the fourth quarter of the road matchup.
It was the only time the Pacers led during the entire game.
Relampago Verde, a 5-year-old gelding, will be anything but green in his new home at Gulfstream Park on Sunday. After making 11 starts for Kenneth McPeek, new trainer Robert Dibona hopes to learn more about the versatile runner in the $70,000 Wildcat Red Handicap.
“He’s got some class,” Dibona said. “Horse is prepared well and he’s doing good. I think he could be a little better on the grass, but I’ve got him ready for the race.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - A highly competitive 10-horse field of 3-year-old fillies was assembled for Sunday’s Grade 3, $175,000 Soaring Softly Stakes at Saratoga when it was scheduled for six furlongs on the turf.
But after 2.24 inches of rain fell in the Saratoga area Friday into Saturday morning, the decision was made to move all of Sunday’s scheduled turf races to the dirt while moving the Grade 1 Manhattan and Grade 1 Jaipur from Saturday to Sunday and run only those races on the turf. The distance of the Soaring Softly will be 5 1/2 furlongs.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Triple Crown revelry fades after the Belmont Stakes. Reality returns Sunday for California-based 3-year-olds at Santa Anita.
Only four entered the $100,000 Affirmed Stakes, two are maidens. While the 2025 Triple Crown series showed that California 3-year-olds can compete anywhere, the problem is there just aren’t many of them – the four graded dirt stakes for 3-year-olds this winter and spring at Santa Anita drew five entrants each.
RUIDOSO DOWNS, N.M. – Unbeaten in three starts, Political Twist has been the star 2-year-old Quarter Horse in New Mexico this spring. Where he ranks in the national division will be better known after Sunday’s $1 million Ruidoso Futurity at Ruidoso Downs.
There are clues Political Twist can continue his winning streak.
A gelding, Political Twist won a division of the 350-yard Ruidoso Futurity time trials by an eye-catching 2 1/2 lengths in 17.62 seconds on May 23, the fastest time from 30 trials on May 23-24.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The road to the $1 million King’s Plate in August begins in earnest Sunday at Woodbine in the $125,000 Queenston Stakes. Trainer Kevin Attard sends out the one-two punch of Mansetti and Dewolf in the seven-furlong sprint for Canadian-bred 3-year-olds.
Mansetti took the six-furlong Clarendon Stakes among his three juvenile outings before spinning his wheels over a laboring dirt surface in the Jerome Stakes on Jan. 4 at Aqueduct.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Indy Bay and Beauty Reigns have both made changes this year – one in terms of connections, the other in distance. The two bring last-out Beyer Speed Figures of 90 and 91, respectively, into Sunday’s $150,000 Jersey Girl Stakes at Saratoga. Nobody else in the six-furlong sprint has topped 80.
