GI Test Stakes

The weather did not bother 'TDN Rising Star' Ways and Means (Practical Joke--Strong Incentive, by Warrior's Reward) as she skimmed the Aqueduct slop and easily took home the GII Gallant Bloom Stakes on Sunday afternoon. Last seen capturing the GI Test Stakes at Saratoga Aug. 3, that effort came on the back of a career best two back--at least on paper--over a Saratoga first-level allowance group June 6. She'd dominated those rivals by 8 1/4 lengths and earned a 104 Beyer, stronger than anything else this field had managed to...

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...

MyRacehorse's Seize the Grey (Arrogate) recorded his final major work Tuesday ahead of an intended date in the GII Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga this weekend. Over Oklahoma's training track rated 'wet-fast,' the grey covered a half mile in :47.99. The GI Preakness Stakes winner shipped to Churchill Downs following a seventh-place finish in the GI Belmont Stakes June 8 before returning to the Spa earlier this month. "He was very strong and I'm very pleased with him," said Lukas. "I told the rider to go :47 and a fifth,...