Kentucky Derby

As Tuesday's entry time looms, the GI Travers S. is shaping up as a rare showdown of the three winners of this season's Triple Crown races. That's happened only five times since 1978, and on no occasion during the last 45 years when the winners of those spring Classics all graced the starting gate for Saratoga's "Midsummer Derby" has any one of them emerged victorious. That's a fairly daunting stat considering how the match-up of the GI Kentucky Derby, GI Preakness S. and GI Belmont S. winners is essentially what...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- It turned out that a non-decision is precisely what settled who would ride GI Kentucky Derby winner Mage (Good Magic) and GI Belmont S. winner Arcangelo (Arrogate) in the GI Travers. Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano rode both horses to their victories in the Triple Crown series and had his choice of which one to ride in the Travers on Aug. 26 at Saratoga Race Course. He holds the Travers record of six wins. Mage's trainer, Gustavo Delgado, asked Castellano on Monday to give him...

Luis Saez will ride Mage (Good Magic) in the upcoming GI Travers S., it was announced Tuesday afternoon in a tweet from trainer Gustavo Delgado, Sr. He replaces Javier Castellano, who won the GI Kentucky Derby aboard the colt and also guided him to a third-place finish in the GI Preakness S. and a runner-up effort in the GI Haskell S. Saez rode Mage to a second-place finish in the GI Florida Derby. Saez opted to ride Tapit Trice (Tapit) in the Derby for trainer Todd Pletcher. Tapit Trice finished...

Keeneland has catalogued 4,194 horses for its upcoming September Yearling Sale, which, for the third straight year, will begin with an elite two-session Book 1, followed by a two-session Book 2 from Sept. 11 through 14. The 12-session auction will include a dark day Sept. 15 and will then continue on through Sept. 23. "The September Sale combines a deep selection of quality yearlings at all price points with a history of producing horses that excel at the highest levels, making the auction a 'must attend' event for  buyers from...

OGMA Investments, Ramiro Restrepo, Sterling Racing and CMNWLTH's GI Kentucky Derby winner Mage (Good Magic) breezed five furlongs in 1:01.03 (5/9) at Saratoga Saturday in preparation for the GI Travers S. Aug. 26. NYRA Clockers caught the Gustavo Delgado trainee through splits of :12.58, :24.49 and :36.35 over the main track. "Very good, because it was very easy," Delgado said of the work, which was Mage's first breeze since finishing second in the GI TVG.com Haskell S. July 22. "The rider said to me, 'no complaints.' Very intelligent and concentrated....

Three-time graded winner and runner-up in the 2023 GI Kentucky Derby Two Phil's (Hard Spun-Mia Torri, by General Quarters) will stand the 2024 season at WinStar Farm near Lexington. His retirement was previously announced after the chestnut suffered an ankle injury during his win in the June 24 GIII Ohio Derby. A fee will be revealed later. "We have been looking for a Danzig-line horse that meets our standard of physicality, pedigree, and race record for some time now," said Elliott Walden, president, CEO, and racing manager of WinStar Farm....

Why didn't the New York stewards disqualify Forte (Violence) from his win in a controversial running of the GII Jim Dandy S. Saturday at Saratoga? The wagering public bet $3,167,647 on the race and that doesn't include any of the horizontal wagers. After Forte and Irad Ortiz Jr. bulled their way off of the rail near the top of the stretch, bumped Angel of Empire (Classic Empire) and took away his path, it looked like the horse deserved to come down. But that didn't happen. The bettors deserved an explanation....

In hindsight, the victory by Geaux Rocket Ride in Saturday's GI Haskell S. was not at all difficult to predict. The real puzzler is how this top-tier Candy Ride (Arg) colt was let go at 12-1 in the betting. A pari-mutuel post-mortem points to a "perfect storm" anchored by two factors: The 2-for-2 'TDN Rising Star' Arabian Knight (Uncle Mo), the highly hyped sophomore from last winter, absorbed overzealous 11-10 favoritism despite not having raced in six months, with the Bob Baffert training factor (nine Haskell wins) contributing mightily to...

You could be forgiven if the fifth race at Louisiana Downs Monday evening was well off your radar screen, but Don'tcrossthedevil (Cross Traffic)'s 4 1/4-length victory in the one mile and 70 yard allowance completed a long and winding road to redemption for co-owner Kevin Knuckley and trainer and breeder Jaylan Clary. Clary bred the 4-year-old gelding with her late father, trainer Michael Neatherlin, and the bay made his winning debut at Remington Park just weeks after Neatherlin died in the fall of 2021. A second open-lengths victory briefly had...

The connections of GI Kentucky Derby winner Mage (Good Magic) may have waited until the 11th hour to make their schedule known, but in the end they gave Monmouth Park the answer everyone there was hoping for. Mage will be starting in Saturday's $1-million GI Haskell S. The decision was not revealed until about 4:30 ET Thursday when trainer Gustavo Delgado, Sr. tweeted the following: "After much consideration and planning Mage's summer goal of getting to the G1 Travers; we have decided to have a prep run in the G1...

When Long Range Toddy (Take Charge Indy) won the eighth race at Gulfstream Park Sunday, the 7-year-old put to rest a losing streak that dated back to before the controversial 2019 GI Kentucky Derby, a race in which he earned historical footnote status by being the horse who was fouled in the only disqualification of a Derby winner for an in-race incident. Long Range Toddy's 2 1/4-length score in a seven-furlong allowance/optional claimer July 16 was his first victory since Mar. 16, 2019, when he took a division of that...

Multiple graded stakes winner Tax (Arch) has been retired from racing. The 7-year-old gelding, who was claimed by trainer and co-owner Danny Gargan for $50,000 out of his debut race in 2018, won the 2019 GII Jim Dandy S. and GIII Withers S., as well as the 2020 GIII Harlan's Holiday S. He earned a trip to the 2019 GI Kentucky Derby with a runner-up effort in the GII Wood Memorial. Fourteenth in the Derby, he returned to finish fourth in the GI Belmont S. On the board in 11...