Whitney Stakes (Grade 1)

THE 2026 Horse of the Year, Sovereignty roared back to his best form with a brilliant win in the Grade 1 Whitney Stakes at Saratoga last Saturday.

Good horses don’t turn bad over a winter off the track, but there was no doubt that a lacklustre third in the Grade 1 Stephen Foster Stakes that followed a reappearance second in the Oaklawn Handicap were well below the quality standared that he set a year ago.

In a strong field, it left doubts but an SP of round 2/1 and bigger looked fantastic value.

He had a tough field up against him, Magnitude being the top older horse of the year so far and unbeaten in his last four outings, including a win in the Stephen Foster Stakes when Sovereignty was only third. The filly Nitrogen was also one of the top females currently in training. From the off, Magnitude stumbled slightly and was on the back foot from his rails draw as Nitrogen went on. Baeza was again the slowest away.

Nitrogen set the pace, leading by a length in a quick 46.27sec half-mile, with Grade 1 winner Antiquarian and Magnitude chasing. Sovereignty was a good nine lengths off the lead and there might have been a slight doubt on just how well he was travelling.

Powered to the front

But once Junior Alvarado got him to move forward and close the gap on the leaders, it was shades of the Sovereignty from last season. Looming up on the bend, once in the straight, he powered to the front as the filly kept on valiantly.

The son of Into Mischief raced to a four-and-three-quarter-length victory over Nitrogen, with Antiquarian keeping on for third and Magnitude this time finding nothing off the final bend. Baeza also didn’t produce his usual strong finish and took fourth.

Sovereignty’s earnings are now over $6.8 million. His trainer Bill Mott said: “Naturally, any time a horse is undefeated or has a win streak going, and then they get beat, you always wonder what is going to happen next time.

“He showed up today. He did what we thought he could do and what he was supposed to do. He didn’t let us down.”

The next big clash for the colt is likely to be in the September 18th Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes on the day the new Belmont Park reopens, where the 2025 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Forever Young is scheduled to run.

Of the beaten horses, Nitrogen deserved praise as she had maintained her lead through six furlongs in a blistering 1m 9.65sec, but still had enough left to hold off the rest of the male rivals.

Magnitude did not get off to the cleanest of starts and was out-run by Nitrogen in the race to the lead. He was in trouble before the turn and finished sixth of seven, beaten over 15 lengths.

His jockey Jose Ortiz said: “Obviously, that’s not how he would rather run, but sometimes you got to adjust. Nothing I could do. I just rode him with confidence. It was the hand I was dealt. I played it and it didn’t work out.” Trainer Steve Asmussen said the plan now was to just train towards the October 31st Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland.

White Abarrio, who finished last of seven, was reported coughing heading back to the barn.

On Monday, retirement was announced for the seven-year-old grey, who began his career with a win in the Grade 1 Florida Derby of 2022 and campaigned at the top level for five seasons, winning the Grade 1 Whitney and Breeders’ Cup Classic as a four-year-old.

Fourstardave Stakes (Grade 1)

EUROPEAN challengers for the Breeders’ Cup Mile will have a tough rival to beat in Deterministic.

The five-year-old Liam’s Map horse earned a career-best 104 Beyer Speed Figure for his win in Saturday’s Grade 1 Fourstardave Stakes.

He tracked the pace set by Mi Bago and kicked clear to beat that rival by a length and a half over the firm, if dampened, turf.

The son of Liam’s Map broke well under Kendrick Carmouche and raced second on the outside, as he was aided by dual Grade 1 winner Rhetorical breaking poorly after acting up in the gate and he was toward the rear of the six-horse field.

“We always thought he was special from day one,” Miguel Clement said of his winner. “He’s taken his training to another level. I can’t keep saying enough; he’s special, he’s built different - distance, versatility, ground. For me, he’s the leader of the division.”

Deterministic also won the Fourstardave last year, the colt is now unbeaten in his last seven races, though he missed the Breeders’ Cup last season. The Grade 1 Woodbine Mile on September 12th is a likely next target.

Saratoga Derby Stakes (Grade 1)

HUGO Palmer made a big strike into the US by posting his first North American victory in the Grade 1 Saratoga Derby Stakes with a well-planned success for Ibrahim Araci’s home bred Glacius.

The mile, one-and-a-half-furlong turf race carried a pretty worthy purse of $412,500 to the winner.

Glacius had been group-placed in June at Royal Ascot and was third in the Listed Gala Stakes in July at Sandown.

Ridden by Luis Saez, Glacius grabbed the lead early, something that seems to suit the Europeans on turf.

The son of Too Darn Hot raced decent fractions, 1m 11.57secs for a mile, and quickened off the bend to hold off West End Kid who hung fire a bit in this challenge, by a length and a quarter.

Title Role, who came to win last month’s Grade 1 Belmont Derby by a nose from West End Kid, finished third this time, a length and a quarter behind the second-place finisher.

“This is my first winner in North America, but we haven’t had (many) runners, and we were beaten two short heads on the line in the Queen Elizabeth at Keeneland (in 2016 with Hawksmoor), but that’s it,” Palmer said.

Rob Speers, the racing manager for the owner Araci, said on Blood-Horse of his winner: “We thought (he) was going to be our English Derby horse at the start of the season, but he just took his time to come to hand.

“We didn’t bring him here for place money, we brought him here because we thought he had a proper chance of winning.”

His next outing was mentioned as the September 5th Grade 2 Nashville Derby Invitational Stakes at Kentucky Downs.

Test Stakes

The three-year-old filly Explora trained by Bob Baffert for owners Michael Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman, secured her first top-level win with a five-length romp in the Grade 1 $500,000 Test Stakes earlier on the card.

The speedy daughter of Blame had finished fourth after leading in the nine-furlong Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks in May at Churchill Downs before Baffert cut her back in distance to win a listed contest over seven furlongs in June at Churchill and the talented filly, runner-up in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies in October at Del Mar, was at home over a shorter distance.

Under Flavien Prat, Explora showed good speed from the gate before settling into third position as Movie Night led a fast 45.08 half mile.

Explora moved forward and was in command before the furlong pole, powering away to win by five lengths.

Baffert has yet to decide her next target on the way to Keeneland’s Breeders’ Cup at the end of October, for the Filly and Mare Sprint.

On the Friday, the Brad Cox-trained Kentucky Belle, a daughter of Justify owned and bred by WinStar Farm, made a winning debut in blacktype company as she collared favourite Faithful Departed in the final strides and prevailed by a head in the Grade 2 $500,000 Saratoga Oaks for three-year-old fillies.

The 14-race Whitney card at Saratoga generated $46,866,128 in wagering from all sources. It was the second highest in history, behind the 2025 Whitney day’s all-time record of $49,651,341.

Attendance was 40,422 with on-track handle of $8,021,319.