Bill Parcells

DEL MAR, California--In Saturday's GI Maker's Mark Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf at Del Mar, the Europeans come to town riding a five-year win streak having taken the hardware and the bragging rights with thanks. Yet, lest we forget that this is horse racing on the turf and that means even the most deserving favorites can be vulnerable. To put it in sports betting terms, the Filly & Mare Turf could be deemed what we call a 'trap game' in the business. That means a seemingly stronger opponent underestimates...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.-Just the mere fact that a $3,500 yearling has won two races of any kind at Saratoga this summer, puts The Queens M G (Thousand Words) in a "that's impressive" category. In the GI Spinaway Stakes Saturday, she will try to add to her reputation by completing the rare sweep of the track's three stakes for 2-year-old fillies. The Queens M G scored in the 5 1/2-furlong Schuylerville Stakes, long the opening day feature, by 2 3/4 lengths at 44-1 July 11. She crushed the six-furlong GIII Adirondack...

The anniversary is right around the corner, a gruesome tragedy that nobody who was at Saratoga that day will ever forget. It was among the darkest days in the long history of racing upstate. But nobody had it worse than trainer Melanie Giddings, who, in a fraction of second, saw Maple Leaf Mel (Cross Traffic) go from the sure winner of the GI Test Stakes to a horse who broke down inches before the wire and could not be saved. Her business is doing fine. She has 42 horses and...

Some of the most highly anticipated races during the summer racing season are the 'baby' races during the boutique meetings at Saratoga and Del Mar and at Ellis Park, which attract its fair share of high-priced offspring from a variety of top national outfits. Summer Breezes highlights debuting 2-year-olds at those meetings that have been sourced at the breeze-up sales earlier in the year, with links to their under-tack previews. To follow are the horses entered for Wednesday at Saratoga: Wednesday, July 24, 2024 Saratoga 2, $90k, 2yo, (S), 5...

The late Maple Leaf Mel (Cross Traffic), who won last year's GIII Victory Ride S. and GIII Miss Preakness S. before tragically falling en route to victory in the GI Test S., was named New York-bred Horse of the Year along with champion 3-year-old filly and champion female sprinter honors during the New York Thoroughbred Breeders Inc.'s Annual Awards Ceremony Monday night. Bred by Joe Fafone and campaigned by Bill Parcells' August Dawn Farm, Maple Leaf Mel was trained by Melanie Giddings--for whom she was named--and Jeremiah Englehart. The complete...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- Owning a very similar name and the same color, sire, owner and trainer, Mel's Baby Sister (Cross Traffic) was moved Wednesday into the stall occupied by the late Maple Leaf Mel (Cross Traffic). Despite the names given to them by owner Bill Parcells, the NFL Hall of Fame coach, to honor trainer Melanie Giddings, Maple Leaf Mel and Mel's Baby Sister are not related. Maple Leaf Mel was on her way to victory in the GI Test S. Saturday when she suffered a catastrophic leg injury...

Sunday dawned emotionally overcast for a racing world still trying to process Saturday's stunning, life-ending injury to the unbeaten New York-bred filly Maple Leaf Mel (Cross Traffic), who was steps from victory in the GI Test S. at Saratoga when she crashed to the track with a catastrophic injury to her right foreleg. She was euthanized on the spot, while jockey Joel Rosario escaped serious injury (three lip stitches) and was off his Sunday mounts. The very public, deep-stretch tragedy on a huge day of racing is comparable to the...

Melanie Giddings had originally planned on a no-stress summer when she decided to move her fledgling stable from its home base at Palm Meadows up to New York for the Saratoga meet. "I had said, 'Why don't we just go up to Saratoga and enjoy ourselves?'" Giddings recalled with her signature easy smile. "No pressure, no nothing. Just take the horses there and see what we can do." Those expectations went out the window pretty quickly when a filly named Maple Leaf Mel (Cross Traffic) landed in her barn. The...

Todd Pletcher stablemates Charge It (Tapit) and Far Bridge (English Channel), each victorious in stakes company on the July 8 program at Belmont Park, returned to the worktab for the first time since those efforts. Whisper Hill Farm's 'TDN Rising Star' Charge It, who returned to winning ways with a dominating victory in the GII Suburban S. at a mile and quarter, went a half-mile in :49 flat over the Saratoga main track and is on track for a start in the GI Whitney S. Aug. 5. "He worked really...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency FULL BRO TO ANALYZE IT UNVEILED BY BROWN AND PARCELLS 10th-SAR, $72K, Msw, 2yo, 1 1/16mT, 6:18 p.m. ET Shirelle (Point of Entry) will carry the colors of Bill Parcells's August Dawn Farm for this first go. The $150,000 KEESEP yearling is a full brother to Brown-trained Analyze It, a 6 1/4-length debut romper in October of his juvenile season, earning 'TDN Rising Star' honors. Analyze It took a pair of Grade III events in his next starts, and just missed in a trio of...

With its two annual fund-raising events in Saratoga Springs cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the New York Race Track Chaplaincy will instead host "Champions Talk," featuring five prominent personalities from the world of sports and horse racing, which will premiere Wednesday, Aug. 5 at 7 p.m. ET. The five individuals are Hall of Fame jockeys Angel Cordero, Jr. and Ramòn Dominguez, Kentucky Derby winning owner Terry Finley of West Point Thoroughbreds, Churchill Downs' all-time leading trainer Dale Romans and Pro Football Hall of Fame and two-time Super Bowl winning...

With its two annual fundraising events in Saratoga Springs, NY cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the New York Race Track Chaplaincy will instead host "Champions Talk", an event featuring five prominent personalities from the world of sports and horse racing, which will premiere Wednesday, Aug. 5 at 7 p.m. ET. The five individuals are Hall of Fame jockeys Angel Cordero Jr. and Ramon Dominguez, GI Kentucky Derby-winning owner Terry Finley of West Point Thoroughbreds, Churchill Downs's all-time leading trainer Dale Romans and Pro Football Hall of Fame and two-time...