Test S.

7th-Saratoga, $110,000, Alw, 6-7, (NW1$X), 3yo/up, f/m, 6f, 1:09.08, ft, 2 lengths. MUNNYS GOLD (f, 4, Munnings--Haraawa, by Medaglia d'Oro), making her 4-year-old debut and her first start since finishing third in last year's GI Test S. at this venue last August, flaunted her considerable speed en route to a facile, pillar-to-post victory as the prohibitive 3-4 favorite. Immediately in front for Irad Ortiz, Jr., whose status for Friday's card was up in the air owing to a Thursday ankle injury, the Florida-bred took her rivals along through quick splits,...

The late Maple Leaf Mel (Cross Traffic), who won last year's GIII Victory Ride S. and GIII Miss Preakness S. before tragically falling en route to victory in the GI Test S., was named New York-bred Horse of the Year along with champion 3-year-old filly and champion female sprinter honors during the New York Thoroughbred Breeders Inc.'s Annual Awards Ceremony Monday night. Bred by Joe Fafone and campaigned by Bill Parcells' August Dawn Farm, Maple Leaf Mel was trained by Melanie Giddings--for whom she was named--and Jeremiah Englehart. The complete...

The Thoroughbred Daily News was among six 2023 Media Eclipse Award winners Friday when the awards were announced by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, Daily Racing Form, and the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters. The 2023 Media Eclipse Award winners are as follows: Multimedia - TDN Writers' Room Podcast - "Wade and Carson Jost," Sept. 20, 2023; Thoroughbred Daily News Gulf War veteran Wade Jost and his son, Carson, joined TDN Writers' Room podcast hosts Bill Finley, Randy Moss, and Zoe Cadman on Sept. 23 for an in-depth and emotional...

SARATOGA  SPRINGS, NY -- With a simple but poignant salute Sunday morning, trainer Brendan Walsh honored Maple Leaf Mel (Cross Traffic) the ill-fated standout of the GI Test S., by giving the winner's blanket of flowers for the race to her trainer she was named for: Melanie Giddings. The flowers were placed as a memorial at the front of the filly's vacant stall. Maple Leaf Mel, unbeaten in her five-race career, was on her way to victory Saturday afternoon when she suffered the injury about 10 yards from the finish....

Todd Pletcher stablemates Charge It (Tapit) and Far Bridge (English Channel), each victorious in stakes company on the July 8 program at Belmont Park, returned to the worktab for the first time since those efforts. Whisper Hill Farm's 'TDN Rising Star' Charge It, who returned to winning ways with a dominating victory in the GII Suburban S. at a mile and quarter, went a half-mile in :49 flat over the Saratoga main track and is on track for a start in the GI Whitney S. Aug. 5. "He worked really...

In this continuing series, we examine the past winners of significant filly/mare races by the lasting influence they've had on the breed. Up today is the GI Longines Test S., a prestigious 3-year old filly event on the Saratoga calendar for the past century. Ah, the Test, the glorious Test. Remember the scintillating call--already 20 years ago--by Tom Durkin during the epic stretch battle between You and Carson Hollow? This race has been so good for so long. At seven furlongs since its second edition, it has delivered pulsating stretch...

Jockey Miguel Mena was killed at about 7:36 p.m. Sunday night in Louisville when struck by a car. He was 34. According to the Jefferson County Coroners Office, which released a brief statement Monday, Mena was a pedestrian on Interstate 64 West between Blankenbaker Parkway and Hurstbourne when hit. The cause of death is listed as blunt force injuries and the manner of death was listed as accidental. According to Rick Sanders, the chief of the Jeffersontown Polic Department, which handled the incident, Mena wound up on the highway after...

Hammered into heavy favoritism with a recency edge over the come-backing 'TDN Rising Star' Wicked Whisper (Liam's Map), Whitham Thoroughbreds's Four Graces proved the easy winner of Friday's GIII Beaumont S., stopping the clock in a stakes and track-record clocking of 1:24.90 for the extended seven-furlong distance. Ridden for speed by Julien Leparoux over a track that had been playing kindly to front-end types, the homebred half-sister to McCraken (Ghostzapper) set a pressured pace from last year's GI Frizette S. winner Wicked Whisper, as they whistled through an opening half-mile...

Irish Jasper (First Defence) has passed every test owner and trainer Derek Ryan has thrown at her with flying colors. Boasting six wins from nine starts, including two graded stakes victories, the sophomore will take her first stab at the highest level Saturday in Saratoga's GI Longines Test S. bearing the colors of new owners William Farish and David Mackie. "Will Farish and his partner David Mackie approached me a week ago and we brokered a deal last Friday," Ryan told the TDN Tuesday. "She will stay in the barn...