SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Mark Casse had just finished fourth with the first-time starter Charlottesuniverse in the sixth race at Saratoga on Thursday, but he still had reason to celebrate.

Grade 2 winner Mopotism, the dam of this year’s Preakness Stakes winner Journalism, has died following colic complications at Don Alberto Farm in Lexington, Ky. The Uncle Mo mare was 11.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Mother Nature helped put a dent in the opening week of business at Saratoga’s traditional 40-day meet as all-sources handle was down 30 percent compared to last year’s opening four days, according to figures provided by the New York Racing Association. 

Visually, it looked like Far Bridge’s three-length victory in Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Bowling Green Stakes was done with ease. But it’s a trainer’s job to worry and on Sunday Miguel Clement was wondering just how easily the victory was attained. 

Clement said he was surprised how early Joel Rosario advanced Far Bridge to the lead with three furlongs to go and then seemingly coasted the final 100 yards. 

Sierra Leone, the Breeders’ Cup Classic winner who went 0 for 3 in Saratoga last summer, had his first workout over the main track here since last September on Sunday, going a half-mile in 48.80 seconds in company with the 3-year-old Hill Road. 

Sierra Leone, coming off a second-place finish behind Mindframe in the Grade 1 Stephen Foster at Churchill Downs on June 28, is pointing to the Grade 1, $1 million Whitney on Aug. 2. 

Prior to her narrow defeat in the Diana, She Feels Pretty had won the Grade 3 Modesty at Churchill and Grade 1 New York here to climb to the top of the division. Her loss on Saturday may not have altered her ranking. 

Trainer Cherie DeVaux had some concerns about She Feels Pretty over a yielding, or what was officially labeled good in the charts, turf course. Still, she was proud of the effort She Feels Pretty gave and said the Grade 2, $500,000 Flower Bowl is one of the potential options for the filly. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - As elated as Chad Brown was to win the Grade 1 Diana for a record-extending 10th time on Saturday, the five-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer is frustrated at the calendar moving forward in the older female turf division. 

The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority has suspended New York racetrack veterinarian Michael Galvin for two years for failing to submit thousands of records of treatments he administered to horses during 2023 and 2024, according to a ruling posted on HISA’s website.

According to the ruling, Galvin, who has a checkered history with regulators and tracks, did not submit records for “over 3,000 treatments” of horses from a period running from Jan. 1, 2023, to March 7, 2024, the ruling said. In addition to the two-year suspension, Galvin was fined $25,000.

The New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association will honor the memory of Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas by establishing the D. Wayne Lukas Award, to be given annually to a New York-based assistant trainer who demonstrates the qualities the late Hall of Fame horsemen exemplified: dedication, a strong work ethic, and a high commitment to excellence.

Pending a weekend workout, Preakness winner Journalism seems likely to ship to New Jersey from Santa Anita for the Haskell Stakes on July 19 at Monmouth Park.