Mentee

In this continuing series, TDN's Senior Racing Editor Steve Sherack catches up with the connections of promising maidens to keep on your radar. Colloquial (c, 2, Vekoma--Terminology, by Bernardini), sidelined since finishing a fast-closing and big-figure second behind Mentee (City of Light) on debut at Aqueduct in June, is nearing a return to the races. Off at odds of 4-1 in his unveiling for George Weaver, the chestnut was urged along by Manny Franco and chased from an inside third as the aforementioned full-brother to champion and 'TDN Rising Star'...

Outwork (Uncle Mo--Nonna Mia by Empire Maker), has been purchased to continue his stud career in Saudi Arabia through a deal brokered by Chad Schumer. The GI Wood Memorial winner won three of five career starts before retiring to WinStar Farm in 2017 with $701,800 in earnings. He's gone on to sire two Grade I winners, Leave No Trace and Brightwork. Another top performer includes millionaire Outadore, who won the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Turf Sprint in 2020 before running in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at Keeneland, making a gallant...

Repole Stable's 'TDN Rising Star' Fierceness (City of Light), expected to vie for favoritism in next Saturday's GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar, turned in his final breeze Friday ahead of the $7-million centerpiece of championship weekend, going a half-mile in :48.98 over the Oklahoma training track. With his regular work rider Danny Wright in the irons, the homebred began his work slightly behind a workmate, drew alongside at the entrance to the stretch and was in front at the line before galloping out five furlongs in 1:02 1/5....

Repole Stable's Breeders' Cup-bound homebred full-brothers champion and 'TDN Rising Star' Fierceness (City of Light) and Mentee (City of Light) turned in workouts on a brisk autumn morning over Saratoga's Oklahoma training track Thursday. Fierceness, who was last seen winning a thrilling renewal of the GI DraftKings Travers Stakes Aug. 24, breezed five furlongs to the outside of the stakes-placed Classic Catch (Classic Empire) in 1:01.69 (1/3). The GI Breeders' Cup Classic will be next for Fierceness. "It was another excellent breeze, pretty much what we've become accustomed to seeing...

It will be a family affair at Del Mar. His older brother may be looking to claim divisional honors on the dirt in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic next month while 2-year-old Mentee (City of Light) is taking a different route to the seaside oval, booking his slot in the gate for the GII Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint with a win in Friday's GIII Futurity Stakes at Aqueduct. A winner by the narrowest of margins, albeit always confidently handled, in his track-record setting Aqueduct debut, the Repole Stables homebred...

Tickets, please! Keeneland's fall meet has the turnstiles primed Friday and that means the featured GI Darley Alcibiades Stakes will fill the apron on what promises to be massive weekend with some 30 graded races across North America--half of which have Breeders' Cup implications. The signature top-level race at the site of the Old Keene Farm was named for a foundational mare who was bred at Hal Price Headley's Beaumont--where modern-day Mill Ridge resides. Alcibiades won the 1930 Kentucky Oaks for Headley, who was one the Keeneland Association's founders and...

In what turned out to be the battle of the TDN Rising Stars, it was Chancer McPatrick (McKInzie) who, despite a problematic start, came on late to outgun Ferocious (Flatter) in Saratoga's closing day marquee juvenile test, the GI Hopeful Stakes. "When it's meant to be, it's meant to be," said rider Flavien Prat, who was winning his seventh Grade I race of the meet. "The break was pretty bad and I never thought from there I could regroup. He did it and he showed that he's very talented." The...

Mentee (City of Light), the two-year-old full-brother to GI Travers Stakes winner Fierceness (City of Light), came down with laminitis after his winning debut on June 15 at Aqueduct. According to owner Mike Repole, who revealed the news on the TDN Writers' Room Podcast presented by Keeneland, the situation was so severe that the colt is "lucky to be alive." However, Mentee recovered so well and so quickly that he is set to start in Monday's GI Hopeful S. at Saratoga. Mentee broke his maiden by a nose, defeating another...

When GIII Sanford Stakes morning-line choice Mentee (City of Light) was scratched Saturday morning, it might have been assumed the race had lost some of its luster, but apparently no one told Mo Plex (c, 2, Complexity--Mo Joy, by Uncle Mo), who was featured in TDN's Saratoga Notebook Friday. The New York-bred Jeremiah Englehart trainee went gate to wire to stay undefeated and give his freshman sire (by Maclean's Music) his first graded win. Studlydoright (Nyquist) and Three Echos (Echo Town) each suffered bumps at the break, but kicked on...

Mentee (City of Light), the full-brother to champion Fierceness who was the 6-5 morning-line favorite for Saturday's GIII Sanford Stakes at Saratoga, has been scratched, owner Mike Repole posted on X early Saturday morning. "[Trainer] Todd [Pletcher] will be scratching Mentee from the Sanford," Repole posted. "This morning at 4:15, Mentee's temperature was checked and unfortunately he has a fever of 102.2. This is very disappointing, but in this game it can always be a lot worse. I wish it would have been Todd or I with a 102.2 temperature...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.--During his Hall of Fame career, trainer Todd Pletcher has won the GIII Sanford at Saratoga a record eight times. He'll look to pad that stat on Saturday when he saddles Mentee (City of Light) in the six-furlong race, which will be run for the 108th time. "For me, it's always about the 2-year-olds," Pletcher said outside his barn at the Oklahoma Training Track when asked what the most exciting part of training is for him. "The 2-year-old program is fantastic here; the state program is great. We...

Chad Brown has won the GI Diana Stakes seven times in its last eight runnings and, well, the odds say that right about 5:45 p.m. Saturday, that will be eight out of the last nine. That's because the Mechanicville native will send out half of the 10 runners for the first elite-level contest of the Saratoga meeting. Strength, indeed, in numbers, but a quintet also not short on quality. Chili Flag (Fr) (Cityscape {GB}) is perhaps the antithetical European import for the barn in the sense that she required three...