Todd Pletcher

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...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.-Just the mere fact that a $3,500 yearling has won two races of any kind at Saratoga this summer, puts The Queens M G (Thousand Words) in a "that's impressive" category. In the GI Spinaway Stakes Saturday, she will try to add to her reputation by completing the rare sweep of the track's three stakes for 2-year-old fillies. The Queens M G scored in the 5 1/2-furlong Schuylerville Stakes, long the opening day feature, by 2 3/4 lengths at 44-1 July 11. She crushed the six-furlong GIII Adirondack...

The public may have given up on Fierceness (City of Light) before the GI DraftKings Travers S., sending last year's 2-year-old champion off at 7-2. It was all about his inability to string together two good races. But owner Mike Repole remained confident and that confidence was rewarded in the Travers in a victory that put his homebred squarely in the mix for Horse of the Year. To talk about Fierceness, and also his desire to make changes in the sport through his National Thoroughbred Alliance, Repole joined this week's...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.-When it became perfectly clear that the finish of Saturday's $1.25-million, GI DraftKings Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course was going to be desperately close, trainer Todd Pletcher went to work. Sitting up in his clubhouse box, the normally composed Pletcher rose to his feet and screamed and yelled for his 3-year-old colt Fierceness (City of Light) to get the job done in the Midsummer Derby. "I knew it was getting close," the Hall of Fame trainer said outside his office at his barn at the Oklahoma Training...

SARATOGA SPRINGS--Travers Weekend has been good to Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher. And not just because he has won the GI Travers Stakes twice--with Flower Alley in 2005 and Stay Thirsty in 2011. The annual blockbuster weekend on the Saratoga Race Course schedule is also known for the 2-year-olds. And Pletcher has had some good ones that have debuted at Midsummer Derby time. On Saturday, it was Tip Top Thomas (Volatile) that emerged as a horse to watch in the future when he won the day's seventh race, a...

Favored at 12-5 in the Travers Day dirt maiden that more times than not produces horses to watch down the road, Jim Bakke's Tip Top Thomas (c, 2, Volatile--Attempt To Name, by Consolidator) narrowly outlasted a couple of well-meant rivals to become the first 'TDN Rising Star' and eighth winner overall for his freshman sire (by Violence). A $160,000 purchase out of last year's Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October Sale, the Apr. 17 foal was coming into this debut off a pair of bullet half-mile breezes in which he outworked no fewer...

When 'TDN Rising Star' Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) enters the gate for Saturday's $1.25-million GI Travers Stakes at Saratoga, it'll be more than a sporting gesture on the part of the ownership group and trainer Ken McPeek. The conditioner is rolling the dice against a field that includes three other Grade I winners--an oft-brilliant, but sometimes unpredictable reigning Eclipse Award champion, a Classic winner over the course and distance and a seven-figure yearling whose full potential has yet to be realized. Sure, Thorpedo Anna could have faced her peers in...

6th-SAR, $100K, Msw, 2yo, 1 1/16mT, 3:05 p.m. ET. Repole Stable and Spendthrift went in to purchase for $725,000 CHANTICLEER (Not This Time) during Fasig-Tipton's Saratoga Yearling Sale before sending him to Todd Pletcher. The chestnut is out of Speightstastic (Speightstown), whose own dam MSW Cherokee Jewel (Cherokee Run) foaled her older full-sister MSW Bayerd. TJCIS PPS 9th-ELP, $71K, Msw, 3yo/up, 1m, 4:48 p.m. ET. Jane Lyon's Summer Wind Equine acquired Greer Lynn (Speightstown) for $750,000 during Keeneland November while Greer's Gold (Medaglia d'Oro) was in-utero. Set for his unveiling...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer Brad Cox said he was listening to a radio show a few days ago and his ears perked up when the chat got to the upcoming GI Breeders' Cup Distaff at Del Mar in November. "They were talking about Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) and Adare Manor (Uncle Mo) being a good matchup, and I was like, 'wow, she is completely forgotten," trainer Brad Cox said outside his barn at the Oklahoma Training Track Thursday morning. 'She' is Idiomatic (Curlin), and if anyone has put her...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Soon after the running of the Curlin Stakes at Saratoga Race Course on July 19, Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey had seen enough. Corporate Power (Curlin), who finished second that day, earned his trip to the big leagues. He will be in the starting gate when the $1.25 million, Grade I Travers Stakes is run for the 155th time. McGaughey knows a thing or two about getting a horse ready for the Midsummer Derby. He has won the race four times, the most recent being...

Byron López was 18 years old when he moved from Guatemala and began working for a talented new trainer named Todd Pletcher. He started out as a hot walker and soon moved up to becoming a groom. Twenty-four years later, he now cares for some of the best of the best among Pletcher's elite stable. López shared his story in Spanish, but the deep devotion he has for his equine charges surpassed any language barriers. "I am motivated by the horses," he said. "They are so affectionate and I get...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY -- Once the $1.25-million GI Travers Stakes is history, 'TDN Rising Star' Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) will head back to running against fillies. Trainer Kenny McPeek said he has no plans on running his talented miss against the colts after the centerpiece of the summer meeting at the Spa. "No, no, no," McPeek said outside of his barn at annex off the Oklahoma Training Track Thursday morning. "A 3-year-old filly against the colts in the Breeders' Cup Classic? Unless it fell apart." The plan moving forward for...