SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – More often than not when he’s come to the Belmont Stakes, trainer Bob Baffert has had the horse to beat. In five of the 12 Belmonts in which he’s run, Baffert was attempting to complete a Triple Crown, something American Pharoah did in 2015 and Justify accomplished in 2018.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Baeza was all the buzz in the weeks leading up to the Kentucky Derby. A potential victim of the tweaking of qualifying rules by Churchill Downs left Baeza on the Derby fence even through entry day, when he was relegated to the also-eligible list.
Two days before the race, when Rodriguez was scratched from the Kentucky Derby due to a bruised foot, Baeza, the Santa Anita Derby runner-up, drew into the field. Baeza validated all the angst of his potential exclusion with a solid third-place finish behind Sovereignty and Journalism in the Kentucky Derby.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - In the past, she’d get in too much of a hurry, but Future Is Now just needed time to figure it all out. Maturation – and uniting with jockey Paco Lopez – turned Future Is Now from a one-way burner into a horse racing with intention. Her intention is to hit the wire first.
She does so frequently. Five of her last six starts produced wins and, on Thursday at Saratoga, Future Is Now tries for a repeat victory in the Grade 2, $200,000 Intercontinental Stakes.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The brilliance Nysos showed by winning his first three starts in late 2023 and early 2024 was again on display when he won for the first time this year in Saturday’s Grade 3 Triple Bend Stakes at Santa Anita.
Last year, the hype surrounding Nysos focused on his chances in the 3-year-old division. The current gameplan is to get the colt to the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar on Nov. 1.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Fierceness and White Abarrio will line up side by side for their showdown in Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Metropolitan Handicap at Saratoga.
Fierceness, the 2024 Travers winner and 2-year-old champion of 2023, drew the rail in the Met Mile, which drew a field of only five, but four of those horses have combined to win 13 of their last 16 starts.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Journalism had always struck his trainer Michael McCarthy as a horse that could handle the three-races-in-five-weeks rigors of the Triple Crown. On Sunday, after watching him put in a terrific workout over Saratoga’s main track, McCarthy will give Journalism the chance to prove him right.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - The five-day Belmont Stakes Festival really kicks into high gear on Friday with the first of two consecutive 14-race programs at Saratoga. The card includes six graded stakes topped by the Grade 1 Acorn for 3-year-old fillies that features the local debut of the undefeated Kentucky Oaks winner Good Cheer.
First post on Friday is 11:40 a.m.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association of Ontario announced the passing of former director Conrad Cohen on Friday at the age of 90.
Cohen’s involvement in Ontario racing started as an owner-trainer over 45 years ago. Several years later, he was elected to the HBPA board of directors and remained a director until 2024.
NEW YORK – The Breeders’ Cup is returning to New York.
Belmont Park, which last held the Breeders’ Cup in 2005, will host the 2027 event on Oct. 29-30, it was announced Wednesday at a press conference in Manhattan. It was also announced that Keeneland Racecourse in Lexington, Ky., will host the Breeders’ Cup on Oct. 30-31, 2026. As has been previously announced, this year’s Breeders’ Cup will be at Del Mar on Oct. 31-Nov. 1.
