Sanford

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...

Reflective of a murky early-season 2-year-old male pecking order, a full dozen will line up in Saturday's GIII Sanford S. at Saratoga, with 'TDN Rising Star' Wit (Practical Joke) expected to go favored from the rail. Easily the most expensive of 88 yearlings to sell from his freshman sire in 2020 when hammering for $575,000 at Keeneland September, the dark bay was hammered down to 45 cents on the dollar debuting June 5 at Belmont only to break last. That was no matter though, as the Todd Pletcher trainee advanced...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. --The confluence of the number 13 and the word "upset" came into play perfectly Aug. 13, 1919, in a race that gave birth to Saratoga's oft-repeated citation as "The Graveyard of Favorites." Bad luck was a key ingredient to the only defeat of Man o' War, whose talents, even as a youngster, were considered otherworldly. That the Sanford S. was won by a horse coincidentally named Upset adds to the story. That the riders of both Man o' War and Upset were denied licenses--without comment from The...