SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Zulu Kingdom immediately made New York his domain when he arrived from Europe last year. He returns to Saratoga as a Grade 1 winner and the 6-5 morning-line favorite in Saturday’s Grade 3, $300,000 Pennine Ridge for sophomores on the turf.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Bill Mott trained the last two winners of the True North Stakes. He doesn’t have a runner this year, but his training tree does as former key assistant Rodolphe Brisset is sending out 2-1 morning-line favorite Mullikin on Saturday.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – On the first weekend in November, May Day Ready came to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf having won three straight races. Nitrogen was still a maiden, although a very well-regarded one. May Day Ready finished a strong second, beaten 1 1/2 lengths by European champion Lake Victoria – recent winner of the Irish 1000 Guineas – with Nitrogen another length back in third.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – When there is not a Triple Crown on the line, the next-best thing for the Belmont Stakes is a budding rivalry. Saturday’s 157th Belmont offers the potential for that and maybe more as a unique classic season comes to its conclusion at Saratoga.

Sovereignty beat Journalism by 1 1/2 lengths when they finished one-two in the Kentucky Derby five weeks ago, and his connections made the rare decision to skip the Preakness to await this race. Rich Strike, the longshot winner of the 2022 Kentucky Derby, did that and finished sixth in the Belmont.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – On the last day of the 2024 Belmont Stakes Festival, Spirit of St Louis romped in the Kingston Stakes, a race restricted to New York-breds. By that time, Spirit of St Louis already had risen to the top of the New York-bred turf route division.

Although Saturday’s $40,000 Emerald Downs, a 6 1/2-furlong affair for fillies and mares age 3 and up, will mark just Avana’s second outing against older company, the 4-year-old Barbara Heads trainee looks to be the clear class of the field.

With six wins in as many starts at Hastings, last year’s British Columbia Oaks champ started her 2025 campaign with a 2 1/2-length allowance victory over Bunny and Air Force, who should be her two closest rivals this Saturday.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – North American turf sprinters have two chances each year to win a Grade 1 race: the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint in November and the Jaipur, now to be contested Sunday at Saratoga. The Jaipur is part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series and its winner will earn a fees-paid starting berth into the BC Turf Sprint.

The Jaipur was moved the Sunday program after it was canceled on Saturday due to torrential rains that left the turf course unsuitable for racing.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – A little less than four hours before the best 3-year-olds in the country face off in the Belmont Stakes, arguably the two best older horses in training square off in the Grade 1, $1 million Metropolitan Handicap at Saratoga.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Todd Pletcher has a number of candidates from which to choose when he’s asked to name the best horse he’s ever trained. After running through a bushel of potential nominees, the Hall of Fame trainer settled on Left Bank.

“He ran seven-eighths in 1:20 in the Tom Fool and came back and set a track record in the Whitney,” said Pletcher, referring to Left Bank’s 1:47.04 clocking in the 2002 Whitney, a mark that was lowered five years later by the Pletcher-trained Lawyer Ron, who ran 1 1/8 miles in 1:46.64, a record that still stands.