Travers

Norm Casse trainee Burning Bright (Empire Maker) crashed through the temporary rail in Wednesday's race 7 at Saratoga, the 1 5/8-mile John's Call S. on the grass, with all early reports indicating the 6-year-old gelding, who collapsed and died, sustained a probable cardiac event. The Equibase chart stated Burning Bright "suffered a fatal cardiac event on the second turn and hit the rail then fell." Jockey Luis Saez was alert and conscious following the spill, but was strapped to a backboard by attending paramedics and sent by ambulance to Albany...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - With the three winners of the Triple Crown races gathered for just the fourth time in the GI Travers S. Saturday, will history repeat itself? Will a horse that did not run in the GI Kentucky Derby, GI Preakness S. or the GI Belmont S. deliver an upset in the 154th Travers? That is how it played out in 1918 with Sun Briar, again in 1982 with Runaway Groom and six years ago when West Coast won the 2017 running of Saratoga's oldest stakes race. If...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- It turned out that a non-decision is precisely what settled who would ride GI Kentucky Derby winner Mage (Good Magic) and GI Belmont S. winner Arcangelo (Arrogate) in the GI Travers. Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano rode both horses to their victories in the Triple Crown series and had his choice of which one to ride in the Travers on Aug. 26 at Saratoga Race Course. He holds the Travers record of six wins. Mage's trainer, Gustavo Delgado, asked Castellano on Monday to give him...

OGMA Investments, Ramiro Restrepo, Sterling Racing and CMNWLTH's GI Kentucky Derby winner Mage (Good Magic) breezed five furlongs in 1:01.03 (5/9) at Saratoga Saturday in preparation for the GI Travers S. Aug. 26. NYRA Clockers caught the Gustavo Delgado trainee through splits of :12.58, :24.49 and :36.35 over the main track. "Very good, because it was very easy," Delgado said of the work, which was Mage's first breeze since finishing second in the GI TVG.com Haskell S. July 22. "The rider said to me, 'no complaints.' Very intelligent and concentrated....

West Will Power (Bernardini), a last-out winner of the GI Stephen Foster S., worked five furlongs in 1:02.24 (1/4) in company with the stakes-placed Tapit Shoes (Tapit) for trainer Brad Cox over Saratoga's Oklahoma training track Saturday. West Will Power, owned and bred by Gary and Mary West, is under consideration for either next Saturday's GI Whitney S. or the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup Sept. 2 at the Spa. "It's a very prestigious race. It means a lot," Cox said of the Whitney. "We'll see how things unfold after...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Four days after his second-place finish in the GI Haskell S., GI Kentucky Derby winner Mage (Good Magic) took some small, easy steps toward the GI Travers on Aug. 26, jogging Wednesday on the Oklahoma training track. Mage shipped from Monmouth Park in New Jersey to Saratoga on Monday and was given another day off on Tuesday. He made his first visit to the track on a cool, foggy morning under his regular exercise rider J.J. Delgado. Assistant trainer Gustavo Delgado held the colt while he...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.--A decision will be announced Tuesday on whether Kentucky Derby winner Mage (Good Magic) will run in the GI Haskell S.  July 22 or train up to the GI Travers S. Aug. 26, co-owner Ramiro Restrepo said Friday. Mage was given a break from training by trainer Gustavo Delgado after his third-place finish in the GI Preakness S. May 20. He had his fourth timed work Friday--six furlongs in 1:13.40--at the Thoroughbred Training Center in Lexington, Ky. "Gustavo just wants to watch the horse until Tuesday," Restrepo said....

The New York Racing Association, Inc. has announced post times for the 2023 40-day summer meet at historic Saratoga Race Course, which will include 71 stakes worth $20.8 million in total purses. Highlighted by the GI Travers S. card Aug. 26, the 2023 summer meet will open on Thursday, July 13 and continue through Monday, Sept. 4. Following the four-day opening weekend, racing will be conducted five days a week, Wednesdays through Sundays, apart from the final week, when the meet will conclude on Labor Day. First post time is...

Following his win the in GI Preakness S. Saturday, trainer Bob Baffert said that National Treasure (Quality Road) and Sir Barton S. winner Arabian Lion (Justify) would stay at Pimlico for a few more days this week and may go on to New York for races on the Belmont S. program June 10. Though he did not rule out Arabian Lion, he said National Treasure was a more likely candidate for the 1 1/2-mile Belmont S. Baffert said he did not want to send the colts back to his base...

The Oklahoma Training Track at historic Saratoga Race Course will open for the 2023 season on Monday, Apr. 17, the New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) announced Wednesday. The Oklahoma barn area will open to licensed trainers and staff beginning Saturday, Apr. 15. Prior to the start of the 2023 summer meet, the Whitney Viewing Stand, which overlooks the Oklahoma track, will be open to the public free of charge on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays beginning Friday, Apr. 21 from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. Highlighted by the GI Travers...

The stakes schedule for the 2023 summer meet at historic Saratoga Race Course will include 71 stakes worth $20.8 million in total purses, the New York Racing Association announced Tuesday. Highlighted by the 154th renewal of the $1.25-million GI Travers Aug. 26 and the $1-million GI Whitney Aug. 5, the 40-day summer meet will open Thursday, July 13 and continue through Monday, Sept. 4. Whitney Day provides a trio of Grade I events, including the GI Test S. and the GI Saratoga Derby Invitational. The Travers Festival offers nine stakes...

Business is booming at Taylor Made, not just because of the company's continued status as the largest sales consignor in the country, but also on the stallion side with the continued ascent of their young star sire Not This Time. Tuesday, Taylor Made CEO joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland as the Green Group Guest of the Week to talk about Not This Time's newest Grade I winner in Runhappy Travers S. romper Epicenter, his team's approach to yearling sales and more. "You can never predict that a...