Manny Franco Wins 6, Todd Pletcher Wins 6,000, Sovereignty Reigns Supreme in Whitney

Saratoga Race Course had another week of superb performances and career milestones as Jockey Manny Franco won 6 races on Friday, including 5 straight races. As popular as he is talented, Franco received loud cheers from the crowd both entering and leaving the paddock after his 5th win. Saturday saw Todd Pletcher patiently wait through a long 14 race Whitney Day card to notch his 6,000th career win as a trainer in the dusky finale. There are few superlatives left for his remarkable career and gentlemanly manner both in victory and defeat.

As impressive as those achievements were, the weekend belonged to Sovereignty who scored the first victory of his four-year-old campaign. The win came over his favorite Saratoga surface with his usual late run over a very talented field.  The victory validated the decision by his connections to keep him in training in 2026. Sovereignty is now slated to face the other-worldly Forever Young in the Jockey Club Gold Cup to open the new Belmont’s on September 18th.  If all goes well, he will follow with the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland on Halloween. 

While Sovereignty won the race, it was the runner up, the filly Nitrogen, who won hearts. Her gutsy effort dispatched favorite Magnitude early in the race and after “doing the dirty work” she hung on gamely for second. She lost nothing in defeat. 

The Whitney Stakes topped a stellar card put forth by the New York Racing Association who should be commended for the day.  The warm temperatures tested both equine and human constitutions, but the large crowd moved easily through the traditional grandstand and the high-end 1863 Club with neither betting nor concession lines difficult to navigate. The day seemed to truly be a celebration of talented horseflesh competing on the large stage – racing as it should be.

Strange Doings

– This column previously urged the use of technology to display a dead heat immediately upon the posting of the winners. On Saturday this was done in a much-improved manner. (It also was the quickest determination of a dead heat in most fans’ memory). 

– Sunday’s card saw two runaway performances at long odds by Florida owner/trainer Ernesto Ochoa. The victories book-ended a $14,500 Pick 4 payout and were part of a $319,000 scoop of the Pick 5.

– Irad Ortiz suffered a foot injury, first reported as an ankle injury on Saturday that sidelined him Sunday. He is hoping to return Wednesday.

– Horsemen are privately complaining that they are seeing hoof issues with horses that run out of the Wilson Chute. (Maybe related – a race out of the chute had its start delayed after the recent rains to allow maintenance to smooth out a section). 

Other

Saturday marked the 52nd Anniversary of President Richard Nixon announcing his resignation, while a yearling, later to be named Tom Swift, came into the auction ring at the Saratoga sales. Hall of Fame trainer Frank “Pancho” Martin left the arena to watch Nixon’s 16-minute resignation speech joining others crowded around a small black and white television in the back office. During that time, legend has it, his principal bid the then outlandish (and record) sum of $350,000 without Martin’s imprimatur, thereby obtaining the well-bred son of Tom Rolfe out of the Champion mare Shuvee. Martin, upon seeing the colt at his barn, commented he looked like “a Shetland pony” due to his small size. The purchase proved an embarrassment to the connections but despite injuries he did manage to win 3 races from 14 starts, including a stakes race under ill-fated rider Jose Amy.  A strange confluence of events.

Preakness vs. Belmont

The dueling announcements last week of a new bonus system linking top races for three-year-olds at Churchill Downs and New York Racing Association tracks, (including the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes), and the change in the running dates of both the Preakness and the Brown Eyed Susan to three weeks after the Kentucky Derby raised eyebrows throughout the industry. Many have bemoaned the changes and deemed it the de facto end of the Triple Crown.

 A few comments:

– NYRA CEO David O’Rourke is correct when he says a horse can still complete the Triple Crown – it will take a super horse and willing connections, but it always has.

– Maryland racing has been a labyrinth of bad actors for years that did not see cooperation as necessary or desirable.

– The Preakness, buoyed by television money and history, will remain important. This is not the first time The Preakness has seen its obituary written – look up the Jersey Derby and Spend A Buck if you do not recall.

– If there is one part of racing that does not need “a boost” it is the three-year-old division. Ditto for “big days”. Much assistance is needed elsewhere.

– “Points” systems and bonuses are bad ideas. They do not work and when they do it can result in horses running (or not running) for the wrong reasons. The injury to Charismatic while running for a bonus sponsored by VISA, in the Belmont Stakes of 1999 comes to mind.

– While the “points” are yet to be announced, it is unlikely fans will blindly accept the top points earner as the champion unless the horse deserves it regardless of the “points”.

– To me, the saddest part of the changes is that marketers seem to feel that skipping the Preakness because “its best for the horse” is a hard sell; while answering “because we are chasing bonus money” is an easy one. To today’s audience they are probably right – and that is sad.