Mindframe

Owner Mike Repole believes he might have the best 4-year-old in the country in his barn at the start of the new year, and that horse isn't necessarily Fierceness (City of Light). Mindframe (Constitution) has been out of sight, out of mind since finishing second in the July 20 GI Haskell S. at Monmouth. In his prior start, he was second in the GI Belmont S. While he didn't win either race, he overcame the fact that he had only two lifetime starts before the Belmont and was an inexperienced,...

All of us involved in this game tend to be exposed to its ups and downs on a scale proportionate to our means. That being so, there have unsurprisingly been some pretty wild extremes--for better and worse--in the story of the most lavishly funded program in its history. Just think back, for instance, to the last days of April 2001. Sheikh Mohammed had sent Street Cry (Ire) back to the United States, where he had been skillfully developed as a juvenile by Eoin Harty, with the mission of winning the...

Repole Stable's homebred 'TDN Rising Star' Fierceness (City of Light) returned to the worktab Thursday for the first time since his determined one-length victory in the GII Jim Dandy July 27, posting a half-mile in company with graded stakes winner Surprisingly (Mastery) in :49.59 (89/172) over the Saratoga Race Course main track. "Perfect," Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher said of the work. "We originally scheduled it for tomorrow, but that [the weather] looked dicey, so we went today. He did really good and seems very happy. He went with...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.--After the impressive win in the GII Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga Race Course last weekend, the chances of the winner, Fierceness (City of Light) showing up in the $1.25, GI Travers Stakes were--take your pick--slim and none. Much has changed in the last few days and now Fierceness may very well be on his way to a date with the likes of Dornoch (Good Magic), Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) and the filly, Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna). "That is what we are thinking about," Hall of Fame trainer...

TDN Rising Star Mindframe (Constitution), runner up in both Grade I attempts, will be sidelined because of bone bruising through the remainder of this year, according to DRF Wednesday. Campaigned by Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable, the Todd Pletcher trainee was sent to Ocala, Florida earlier this week and was examined by Dr. John Madison. With the defection of Mindframe, Repole also indicated that recent GII Jim Dandy Stakes winner Fierceness (City of Light) is a possibility to run in the Aug. 24 GI Travers S. "He's clear go...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - A final decision on whether or not 'TDN Rising Star' Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) will run against the boys in the $1.25 million GI Travers Stakes will be made on Saturday. That's the deadline trainer Kenny McPeek put on himself Sunday morning, the day after his 3-year-old filly dominated the GI Coaching Club American Oaks, winning by 4 1/2 lengths. "We are going to take the week, get her back on the track Wednesday, and I will make a decision Saturday," McPeek said, sitting in his...

Dornoch (Good Magic) didn't get much respect heading into the GI Belmont Stakes, and his bandwagon wasn't exactly overburdened with supporters after his 17-1 victory over 'TDN Rising Star' Mindframe (Constitution), either. On Saturday at Monmouth Park, bettors let the winner of the third leg of the Triple Crown go as the tepid 3.4-1 third choice in the seven-horse GI Haskell Stakes, believing with 4-5 certainty that a now-more-experienced Mindframe wouldn't, for a second straight race, allow Dornoch to claw back the lead in deep stretch like he did six...

Six weeks removed from his biggest win in his career win in the GI Belmont Stakes, Dornoch (Godo Magic) did what many thought he surely wouldn't be able to repeat. But it seems nobody told him, nor the colt's connections for that matter. During Wednesday's draw for the GI NYRABets Haskell Stakes, trainer Danny Gargan made it pretty clear that he was not really enthused with his Classic-winning colt drawing Post 1. The  trainer probably had a flashback to this season's Kentucky Derby, where Dornoch drew the dreaded rail and...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Pressure? What pressure. There was none of that over at trainer Kenny McPeek's barn at the Oklahoma Annex Friday morning. Even though the stable star--the imposing, impressive and almost undefeated 3-year-old filly Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna)--is running on Saturday, no one on McPeek's staff was sweating bullets. Thorpedo Anna is the 1-2 morning-line favorite in the $500,000 GI Coaching Club American Oaks at 1 1/8 miles at Saratoga Race Course. She has won five of six career starts and has won all three of her races...

'TDN Rising Star' Mindframe (Constitution), who led into the final furlong of last month's GI Belmont Stakes before his inexperience cost him the final leg of the Triple Crown, rates the marquee in Saturday's GI NYRA Bets Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park, a 'Win and You're In' qualifier for the GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar in early November. A $600,000 Keeneland September purchase campaigned by the formidable team of Mike Repole's Repole Stable and Vinnie Viola's St Elias Stable, the Maryland-bred won his seven-furlong Gulfstream debut by a...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.--Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher promised that he would enter three of his horses for Saturday's $1 million NYRA Bets GI Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park. And that he did on Wednesday as a pair of 'TDN Rising Stars' in Fierceness (City of Light) and Mindframe (Constitution), plus Tuscan Sky (Vino Rosso) were three of the eight 3-year-olds signed on to run in the signature race at the Monmouth. It remains to be seen how many of them actually take the trip from the Spa City to...

Todd Pletcher has taken multiple swings, 18 to be exact, at the GI Haskell S. in the past, and the Hall of Fame trainer once again returns to Monmouth Park loaded for this year's renewal. Pletcher's trio of entered runners is headed by Repole Stable and St. Elias Stables'  Mindframe (Constitution). During Wednesday's draw luncheon at the Oceanport oval, the GI Belmont Stakes runner-up was installed the 9-5 morning line favorite shortly after drawing post seven in the eight-horse field. Irad Ortiz Jr., making his first appearance in the Haskell,...