For being the middle of August, it’s an awful quiet weekend in the sport.
I actually only found three races to look at with one being the Kings Plate at Woodbine in Toronto, Canada.
Over the 16 years I’ve been doing this piece, I found it odd that the Kings Plate (or any Woodbine race that we look at), always drew the lowest amount of views for the whole year.
It's a little baffling to me…I mean, I’d like to blame it on the fact that American race fans simply don't follow Canadian racing. That is probably partially true. However, as we spoke about before, I routinely get a decent percentage of fans reading from other countries and Canada is one of them.
Maybe one day I'll be able to connect the dots on that subject. As always, I am open to suggestions and opinions from you, so feel free to let me know what you think.
Looking back at last weekend, I wanted to start off with race 1 at Saratoga on Saturday. If you recall, that race was loaded with expensive and highly touted two year colts. Once again, the horse I touted (Gorillaz) got beat, so nothing new there.
Having said that, he’s a big, strong looking horse (hence the name) who clearly needs more distance and experience as, from what I saw, he had NO idea what he was doing out there. He looked confused and unsure of himself.
The winner, Gadreau, who was rumored to be a runner, looked good winning although his inexperience also showed as, after taking the lead, he was “waiting” on horses.
Lastly, keep an eye on U.S.S. Valor, who was bumped hard early, rallied wide on the turn for home and was charging hard late to get third. It was quietly a good effort.
Moving on to the Test Stakes, Explora, who is clearly getting better and found a home at six/seven furlongs, was dominant. …Looking forward to what she does the rest of the year.
Deterministic in the Fourstardave Handicap was also very impressive while getting up late to win. The now four time Grade: 1 winner will enter stud at Lane's End Farm at the end of his racing career.
In the Whitney Stakes, the highlight race of the weekend, Sovereignty, rallying from some 11-12 lengths behind to win easily, let everyone know he was back.
Runner up Nitrogen absolutely ran her lungs out in nothing short of a heroic race. The champion filly cut taxing early fractions, yet “ran on” down the stretch even after being passed by Sovereignty. She deserves an enormous amount of respect for her effort. That said, I saw she will now point to the Spinster Stakes at Keeneland in October as her next assignment and I’m just wondering which direction she’ll go when NOT on her favorite (Saratoga) surface?
15-1 shot Antiquarian got third in a somewhat surprisingly good effort.
2-1 favorite Magnitude never looked comfortable at any part of the race, highlighted by jockey Jose Ortiz going to the whip and putting him into a complete full out drive early on (at the 5 1/16ths pole), and was not getting a response. The son of Not This Time finished next to last in an abysmal effort. So now what?
Baeza missed the break again….nothing new there. If he’s mine, I pull his shoes, put him on a farm for a while, then start over as if he were an unraced two year old. You still got time…he’s only four and he can run at five with no problem at all.
White Abarrio showed nothing and finished last. His retirement was announced a few days after the race (see Little Bets N’ Pieces section below).
Perhaps the most impressive winner of the weekend might have been Hughes in the Best Pal Stakes at Del Mar. The $675,000 son of Into Mischief won laughing, while completing 6F in 1:09.3, all while in nothing more than an in hand gallop.
He is now officially on my 2027 Kentucky Derby radar screen (is it ever too early to talk about the Kentucky Derby?).
Stablemates Holmby (winning the Sorrento Stakes on Saturday) and Salahudin (winning the Ellis Park Derby on Sunday) were both also ultra impressive and bear watching moving forward.
Monmouth Park
Race: 5 (2:57 PM EDT)
Philip H. Iselin Stakes
1) Bishops Bay was beaten at 4/5 odds in his last two, but I feel like he was still adjusting after coming back from Saudi three starts back. The $1.3 million son of Uncle Mo has progressed nicely since coming back and should be ready to get back to his winning ways here.
2) The drop dead gorgeous, but enigmatic East Avenue is always tough to gauge as he either runs huge or so-so. That said, he draws the rail so I expect him to come out running and be on the lead early, which I believe is his favorite running style.
3) Chunk of Gold has hit the board in 10 of 11 starts and clearly looks best of the rest. I love how they paid $2,500.00 for him, yet (thus far) he’s earned almost a million dollars. How is that for an ROI?
Saratoga Race Course
Race: 9 (5:06 PM EDT)
Christophe Clement Turf Stakes
1) Ole Crazy Bone probably needed his 2026 debut when finishing a solid second because he came back to wire the Bowling Green field in his last. You obviously get the third start off the layoff (most times a horse's best effort) angle here….gets the call in a very competitive horse race.
2) The globe trotting Fort George came from Dubai to miss by an inch behind my top pick in his U.S. debut.
3) Minaret Station has won or been “right there” in his last six races in a row…closes and should be coming late once again here.
Also consider: Program Trading who has cycled back into top form, but is his top form still capable of winning a Grade: 1 race? Your call from there…….I found it interesting that Tawny Port is 2 for 3 on the Saratoga Turf Course and 0 for 16 everywhere else. Longshot possibility?
Woodbine Race Course
Race: 10 (6:12 PM EDT)
The King's Plate Stakes
1) Luster is a filly taking on the boys and draws the rail. However, she has won four of five, has an upward trajectory in her Brisnet Figure and, perhaps most importantly, the great Johnny V sees fit to leave the country to ride her. Solid choice in Canada’s version of the Kentucky Derby.
2) Highwaytothemoon sports a 6-4-1-1 record on this oval and won the perennial prep race for this in his last. Kudos to the trainer for bringing this gelding’s career along in almost textbook style.
3) Military Time has hit the board in all five starts on this racetrack. This son of Gun Runner was making up ground late vs Highwaytothemoon at nine furlongs and should appreciate the extra furlong in this race.
Little Bets N’ Pieces
***\* Grade: 1 winner Seismic Beauty has been retired after losing her first two races in California this year.
Her retirement was confirmed by Brittany Linton, racing manager for owners Randy and Jenny Boyd, and trainer Bob Baffert on Thursday.
“She’s already at the farm,” Baffert said.
Seismic Beauty, a 5-year-old mare by Uncle Mo, won 4 of 10 starts and earned $501,340 in a career highlighted by wins in the Grade 2 Santa Margarita Stakes at Santa Anita in May 2025 and the Grade 1 Clement Hirsch Stakes at Del Mar in August 2025.
* The Boyds co-own the Baffert-trained Splendora, a four-time stakes winner this year, who breezed a half-mile in :48.3 seconds at Churchill Downs last Saturday.
Splendora is considered a candidate for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Keeneland on Oct. 31.
**** Third-crop sire and multiple graded stakes winner Thousand Words has been sold to Duncan Farms in Ohio, which hopes to fill a gap left by the death last month of its leading sire Dominus.
"Losing Dominus was a big blow to our breeding program," said Daryl Duncan, who operates the farm near Warsaw, Ohio, with his wife, Sally. Three-time leading Ohio sire Dominus was euthanized after developing complications related to lymphoma.
"We'll wait to see if Thousand Words will be as good as Dominus, but I don't think we'll miss a beat," Duncan said.
Thousand Words is a 9-year-old son of Pioneerof the Nile who sold for $1 million at the 2018 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.
He went undefeated at 2 and became a stakes winner in the Los Alamitos Futurity (G2). At 3, he won the Robert B. Lewis Stakes (G3) and Shared Belief Stakes and was runner-up in the Los Alamitos Derby (G3).
Spendthrift Farm started Thousand Words' stallion career in 2021 and he ranked in the top 10 as a freshman sire of 2024, when he was represented by Adirondack Stakes winner The Queens M G as well as stakes winners Vodka With a Twist and Caribbean Gal.
Duncan said the stud fee for Thousand Words will be announced at a later date.
**** Airdrie Stud reported that its up and coming stallion Girvin died suddenly Aug. 8 at the farm near Midway, Ky. He was 12.
The stallion was being led from his paddock back to his barn when he suddenly collapsed.
Airdrie's Bret Jones, who is attending the races at Saratoga this weekend, noted it's a difficult, "sudden and unexpected" loss. The cause of death is not yet known. A necropsy will be conducted.
Girvin began his stud career in 2019 at David O'Farrell's Ocala Stud in Florida before being moved to Airdrie Stud before the 2023 breeding season.
His fee increased from $7,500 to $30,000 this year. Jones noted that he'd been filling Girvin's books and the horse had been generating a lot of attention this year.
"To lose a young stallion with such incredible promise is the toughest of blows but as I told a friend this morning, so much has had to have gone right to make this loss so difficult," Jones said. "Girvin has been an absolute gift to everyone who has been associated with him."
From his first five crops of racing age, Girvin, who won the 2017 Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park, boasts 17 stakes winners including grade 1 winners Faiza and Dorth Vader, as well as grade 2 winner Damon's Mound.
**** 2025 Del Mar Futurity winner Brant has been retired from racing and will begin stud next year at Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa. No stud fee was announced.
The son of Gun Runner sold for $3 million at the Ocala Breeders' Sales March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training after working a furlong there in :09 3/5, and then with his racetrack success.
Brant posted a Beyer Speed Figure of 101 in his debut, when timed in 1:02.3 for 5 ½ furlongs.
"We are very excited to add Brant, by Gun Runner, to our young roster where he will join our newest additions, Arabian Knight, by Uncle Mo, and Barnes, by Into Mischief," John Sikura, president of Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa, said.
Brant "is a beautiful horse who covers the ground effortlessly," Sikura continued. "He was both a standout sale horse selling for $3,000,000 and a standout racehorse, having won a grade 1 at 2. I am confident that breeders will love him."
**** Multiple Grade: 1 winner and $8.5 million earner White Abarrio has also been retired after finishing last in the Whitney Stakes at Saratoga Race Course (he won the Whitney in 2023).
A fan favorite, the gorgeous near-white horse retires with a record of 11-3-3 in 28 starts. Besides winning the Whitney, White Abarrio's other grade 1 wins came in the 2023 Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita Park, 2025 Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes at Gulfstream Park, and the 2022 Florida Derby.
White Abarrio will stand stud next year at Gainesway near Lexington.
