SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Ichiban came to Saratoga a maiden. She will leave a stakes winner, as she easily captured Sunday’s $186,000 Fleet Indian Stakes for New York-bred 3-year-old fillies by 5 1/4 lengths for her third win of the meet.

Ichiban, trained by Linda Rice, defeated her stablemate Amanda’s Folly, who finished 15 1/2 lengths in front of race favorite Timely Conquest, the 3-5 favorite. Krystalheir was basically eased. Cairo Sugar was scratched a few minutes before post time by the stewards based on a recommendation from the on-track veterinarian.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The New York Racing Association decided to go ahead with its 11-race Sunday card at Saratoga Racecourse after meeting with horsemen, track officials, maintenance workers, and jockeys and determining there were no overriding concerns about the safety of the track’s racing surfaces or the effectiveness of its safety protocols.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Handle on Saturday's 13-race Travers Stakes card at Saratoga Racecourse was $50.18 million, according to the New York Racing Association, down 9.7 percent from the record handle of $55.56 million last year, also on a 13-race card.

The $50.18 million figure this year was the fifth-highest of all time for a Travers card, in an era when racetracks bundle their best races on single race days to grab as much attention in the simulcast market as possible. The 2023 figure was the lowest since 2017, not counting the pandemic year of 2020.

The New York Racing Association said Saturday night that it would convene an emergency meeting of New York State Gaming Commission and Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority officials before deciding to run Saratoga's Sunday card following two additional horse deaths on the Saturday card.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Nobel was euthanized on the Saratoga turf course on Saturday after suffering a catastrophic injury to his left foreleg just after finishing the fifth race, becoming the fifth horse during this Saratoga meet to die after suffering musculoskeletal injuries during a turf race.

The incident further raised concerns about the condition of the track’s grass courses during a season marked by rain.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher has been issued a 15-day suspension by the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission after a horse he trained tested positive for hydrochlorothiazide after winning a $200,000 stakes race at Parx racetrack last year, according to a ruling posted on the commission’s website.

The great filly Ruffian, who was buried in the infield at Belmont Park in 1975, has been exhumed as the New York facility prepares for a massive renovation, and has been reinterred at her birthplace, Claiborne Farm.

Ruffian raced as a homebred for Stuart Janney Jr. and Barbara Phipps Janney,  whose families have long ties to the Hancock family's Claiborne in Paris, Kentucky. Ruffian was reinterred on Thursday at Claiborne’s Marchmont Cemetery.

The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission on Tuesday voted unanimously to uphold a hearing officer’s recommendation to deny an appeal by the trainer Bob Baffert of a 90-day suspension he served after a horse he trained, Medina Spirit, tested positive for a regulated medication in the 2021 Kentucky Derby.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Stone Age, the runner-up in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Turf when trained by Aidan O’Brien, had his fifth workout Sunday for trainer Chad Brown, who is likely to bring him back off a six-month layoff in Saturday’s Grade 1, $750,000 Sword Dancer Stakes at Saratoga.

Stone Age worked five furlongs on Sunday in 1:01.85 over the Oklahoma turf course in company with Beaute Cachee.

Brown said while he may have Stone Age only 80 percent ready to fire his best, running in the Sword Dancer may be the right move.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer Chad Brown could have three of his four starters from Saturday’s Grade 2 Lake Placid Stakes in the Grade 1, $600,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes at Keeneland on Oct. 14. Brown has won four of the last five runnings of that race and five overall.

Aspray and Surge Capacity, the one-two Lake Placid finishers, will move on to the QE II at 1 1/8 miles. Aspray was a perfect-trip, two-length winner of the Lake Placid, running 1 1/16 miles in 1:42.85 and earning a career-best 92 Beyer Speed Figure.