Todd Pletcher

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.-A healthy field of 12 was entered Sunday for the 97th running of the $1-million GI Whitney Stakes, which will be run at Saratoga Race Course Saturday. National Treasure (Quality Road), from Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, will be the favorite as he is ranked as the top older horse in the country in the weekly NTRA poll. Evidently, he is not scaring anyone off. Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher has a trio of horses entered in Bright Future (Curlin), Charge It (Tapit) and Crupi (Curlin)....

Last year's champion 2-year-old colt and 'TDN Rising Star' Fierceness (City of Light), a very disappointing 15th as the favorite in the GI Kentucky Derby last out, showed up in a big way Saturday, defeating favored 'Rising Star' Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) by a length in a fantastic renewal of the GII Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga. It was another 5 3/4 lengths back to Batten Down (Tapit) in third. Drawn widest of all in post six, the 9-5 second-choice exited the stalls running beneath John Velazquez and was perfectly...

Bright Future (Curlin), a last out winner of the Salvator Mile Stakes at Monmouth June 15, posted his final work in preparation for next Saturday's GI Whitney, covering a half-mile in :48.75 (32/104) Saturday over the Saratoga Race Course main track. Trained by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, last year's GI Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes winner went in company with MGSW and Whitney possible Charge It (Tapit). "He worked well and I'm happy with him," Pletcher said. "Charge It also went well. I think Bright Future is training great and...

Unraced since a gate scratch in the GII Coolmore Fountain of Youth Stakes in March, Speak Easy (Constitution) returned to the races off a six-month layoff Saturday to become the newest 'TDN Rising Star'. A dazzling debut winner going seven furlongs at Gulfstream in January, the WinStar and Siena Farm-owned colt tossed up a 100 Beyer Speed Figure in a race that has since produced Sir Barton Stakes winner Corporate Power (Curlin) and GIII Ohio Derby victor Batten Down (Tapit). Shortened to six furlongs for his first start back, Speak...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - It has been a sizzling start to the Saratoga summer for Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse. Horses from his barn have done little wrong in the first 11 days of the 40-day meet at Saratoga Race Course. Casse has started 19 horses so far and has visited the winner's circle six times. He also has three second-place finishes and one third. Without question this is the best start he has ever had at the Spa. "Oh, by far," Casse said at his barn on the...

Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher, who saw Tapit Trice (Tapit) make a successful return in the GIII Monmouth Cup, earned a $75,000 bonus from Monmouth Park as a result of the $150,000 Haskell Weekend Trainer Challenge that ended Saturday, July 20. Chad Brown, with a first (Beaute Cachee) and third-place finish (Delahaye) in the GIII WinStar Matchmaker Stakes, earned $25,000 for finishing second to Pletcher with 55 points. Pletcher totaled 98 points over the Haskell Weekend Trainer Challenge that ran from July 19-21. Pletcher also had the runner-up (Mindframe)...

A well-matched field of eight is set to line up for Wednesday's GII Honorable Miss Stakes at Saratoga. Riding a three-race win streak, Juddmonte's Accede (Into Mischief) posted a last-out neck victory in the seven-furlong GII Bed 'O Roses at the Big A June 15. Trained by Chad Brown, the homebred previously recorded a pair of wins at Keeneland at the oval's Fall and Spring meets, including a 1 3/4-length score going six panels against optional claiming company in her seasonal return Apr. 24. "We'll plan on keeping her running...

Before he became a Hall of Fame trainer, Todd Pletcher was once a sports journalist. Kind of. He had a nickname, too. Find out what horse race is his most satisfying victory and who were his favorite horses to train. And, if you want to find out what NFL team is near and dear to his heart, dive right in. Find out all you never knew about one of the most successful trainers in the history of the sport. TDN: On your resume--and I am not going to go through...

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...

Returning to the races off a year layoff, Tapit Trice marked his return in style, rolling home a 5 1/4-length winner over Highland Falls in the GIII Monmouth Stakes. A beat slow out of post 8, Tapit Trice was fanned four wide heading into the first turn as Counterspy (Gun Runner) went to the front, carving out an opening quarter in :24.14. A three-wide third following a :49.15 half, the grey held a slight advantage over favored Highland Falls, who was pinned along the inside and in need of racing...

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...

5th-ELP, $71K, Msw, 2yo, 7f, 2:53 p.m. ET. TAPPAN STREET (Into Mischief), a $1 million-purchase at last year's Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale, makes his first start for CHC, Siena and WinStar. Trained by Brad Cox, the colt is the second to the races for GSP Virginia Key (Distorted Humor), who is also responsible for his older half-sister in-training Distorted d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro. Tappan Street's second dam, GSW Our Khrysty (Newfoundland), also produced GI Del Mar Debutante Stakes heroine Grace Adler (Curlin) and the recent GI Stephen Foster Stakes runner-up...