SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott had a simple answer when asked Sunday morning why the Travers Stakes is so important to him.
“I have never won it,” said Mott, who is winless with 13 starters in 12 runnings of the Travers going back to 1995. “The majority of [winners] probably tried the Triple Crown, if they’ve gone through that and then can still manage to run in there, they’re usually nice horses.”
The Whitney Handicap, 20 years ago, was the coming-out party for Commentator. The New York-bred gelding, who twice won the historic race – in 2005 and 2008 – as he thrived in Saratoga, where, upon his retirement, he was presented with a peppermint key to the city in the winner’s circle. Commentator came back to call the Saratoga Springs area his home, and died last month at Old Friends at Cabin Creek, in nearby Greenfield Center.
Perry Wayne Ouzts continues to set longevity milestones, and the jockey, who has been riding professionally for more than half a century, will eye another this weekend. Ouzts, who turned 71 on July 7, is in sight of surpassing Russell Baze’s record number of career starts, 53,578.
“I don’t think anybody can ever imagine that,” Ouzts said of his ongoing career.
Horses previously trained by D. Wayne Lukas, who died on June 28, will not be trained by his former assistant, Sebastian “Bas” Nicholl moving forward as Nicholl has decided not to pursue his own training career.
“I decided not to continue as a racehorse trainer. I do plan to continue as an assistant trainer,” Nicholl told Daily Racing Form Tuesday afternoon. “It was a personal decision, not something I really want to discuss. It was a very amicable decision, everyone’s all good friends. We’re going to go ahead and move on.”
Monmouth Park stewards handed Umberto Rispoli a one-day suspension and levied a $6,000 fine Tuesday, citing the jockey for striking Journalism eight times, two more than the maximum allowed under a Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority rule, during the stretch run of the Haskell Stakes on Saturday. Journalism got up to win by a half-length.
The travel portion of Journalism’s 2025 campaign may be done following his win in Saturday’s Grade 1 Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park, the superstar colt’s fourth consecutive race away from trainer Michael McCarthy’s base in Southern California.
Or, Journalism could be back on a plane next month for another leading major stakes on the East Coast.
Those are decisions that McCarthy and the partnership that owns Journalism - Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Bridlewood Farm, Robert LaPenta, Don Albert Stable, and Elayne Stables 5 LLC – face in coming days and weeks.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Baeza was close to Sovereignty in the Kentucky Derby, but not so much in the Belmont Stakes.
Over the last month, trainer John Shirreffs has changed Baeza’s training somewhat in hopes of getting him sharper and more aggressive when he faces Sovereignty in potentially two spots here this summer beginning with Saturday’s Grade 2, $500,000 Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga.
Chad Brown won four races - three of which were stakes - on Saturday at Monmouth Park, but aside from Molly Pitcher winner Randomized, next starts for several of those horses are still to be determined.
Randomized used her speed to win the Grade 3, $500,000 Molly Pitcher by three lengths, her first win since taking the grade 1 Ogden Phipps in June 2024. She had lost her previous two starts this year, finishing third to stablemate Raging Sea in the Grade 1 La Troienne and fifth of eight in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps run over a sloppy track.
It is possible that by the end of the current meeting on Sept. 7, trainer Phil D’Amato will rank among the five all-time leading stakes winners at Del Mar.
D’Amato swept the track’s two stakes on Saturday, both at a mile on turf, when Almendares won the $102,500 Wickerr Stakes and Thought Process glided home in the Grade 2 San Clemente Stakes for 3-year-old fillies.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Sweet Azteca, the brilliant winner of the Grade 2 Great Lady M. Stakes at Los Alamitos on July 5 in her first start of 2025, will remain in California this summer.
Trainer Richard Baltas said on Sunday that Sweet Azteca is scheduled to run in the Grade 3 Rancho Bernardo Stakes at Del Mar on Aug. 24. The $100,000 Rancho Bernardo Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs is the track’s leading summertime sprint for fillies and mares.
