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Milestone 2,000th Win for Jockey Mychel Sanchez

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With more than a decade riding in the U.S., primarily in the Mid-Atlantic, jockey Mychel Sanchez recorded the 2,000th victory of his North American career Thursday at Colonial Downs when he won the last race aboard Princess Summer (Mastery), a 12-1 Mike Maker trainee.

Sanchez, who has earned nearly $70 million in purses, began Thursday with 1,998 career wins, but also won Colonial’s first race with Call Me Andy (Midshipman) for trainer Jamie Ness. Originally from Venezuela, Sanchez is regularly among the leading riders at both Colonial Downs and Parx Racing.

The post Milestone 2,000th Win for Jockey Mychel Sanchez appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Saratoga Notebook, presented by NYRA Bets: Pletcher Humbled as he Nears 6,000 Wins

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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Todd Pletcher is going to have to wait at least one more day before he can be called Mr. 6,000.

The Hall of Fame trainer is one win away from reaching that lofty number for career training wins.

“I have not spent a lot of time thinking about it,” Pletcher said outside his office on a steamy Thursday morning at the Oklahoma Training Track. “I did see a couple months ago that we were getting close, and I thought to myself it would be cool if it could happen at Saratoga.”

Some of Pletcher’s finest moments have come at the Spa. He has won a record 15 training titles at Saratoga. The big races? He got the GI Whitney Stakes four times, ditto the GI Alabama Stakes. He sat in the Travers canoe three times and has claimed the GII Jim Dandy a record nine times. The list goes on and on.

The 59-year-old from Dallas had two chances to get that magic number on Thursday. In the seventh, his 4-year-old gelding Highlands Way (Not This Time) rallied strongly down the stretch of the inner turf but settled for second in an allowance race.

In the ninth, the featured John Morrissey Stakes, Donegal Surges (Candy Ride {Arg}) finished seventh.

On Friday, Pletcher has two horses entered on the card: Big Frosty (Big Brown), who is on the AE list in the third, and Code (Tiz the Law), who is 20-1 on the morning line in the $500,000 GII Saratoga Oaks.

Pletcher will become the seventh trainer to reach 6,000. No. 1 on the list is Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, who entered Thursday with 11,294 wins. Pletcher, though, is atop the earnings list with $525,948,925.

When he first took out his trainer’s license in late 1995 after cutting his teeth as an assistant for the late, great D. Wayne Lukas, never did he think he would one day be approaching such a mammoth number for career wins.

“No. Honestly, when you start off, all you are thinking about is getting that first win,” he said. “And you do the best you can. That has been our motto all along: try to be the best we can with every horse that we get the opportunity to train. If that means developing it into a Grade I champion, awesome.

“If that means finding their level in maiden 25 and being able to be competitive and win, that is what we try to do,” he said.

One day, perhaps when he allows himself to slow down just a little, he will reflect on the accomplishment, one that will surely come in the next few days. For now, though, Pletcher isn’t slowing down.

“That is what is unique about this business,” he said. “There is never really a final game of the season, you know? You have to start all over again tomorrow. I have found, and I don’t know why, but when you get to some of these milestones, it does allow you to reflect a little bit and think about not only the people that have contributed, but all the horses. Each and every horse is important, and every win means something.”

Castellano Hoping The Puma Gives Him his Eighth Travers Win

No jockey has won more GI Travers Stakes than Javier Castellano. He has seven of them on his resume and is looking to add to that later this month when he rides The Puma (Essential Quality) in the $1.25-million GI Travers Stakes.

“I have been very blessed,” Castellano said Thursday morning.

Javier Castellano and The Puma work Thursday morning | Sarah Andrew

Castellano was talking outside the barn of Gustavo Delgado at the Oklahoma Training Track. He had just worked his Travers partner five furlongs in 1:02.16 (7/7) on the main track.

“Very easy. For me, the work was excellent,” Delgado said after the work. “I told Castellano before the breeze, ‘relax.’ We have time. We have two more works before the Travers. Relax, relax, relax. Very good.”

Thursday’s work was The Puma’s first since finishing fourth in the GI Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park on July 18. It was the also the first time Castellano has been on the colt’s back since he rode him to a second-place finish in the GI Florida Derby in March.

In that race, The Puma lost by a nose to Commandment (Into Mischief).

“We were not looking for a fancy work,” Castellano said. “Just wanted to see how he felt. He liked the track; I liked the way he traveled. He has always been a laid-back horse. Since March, it seems to me he had grown physically, but mentally, he is the same horse.”

Owned by OGMA Investments, LLC, JR Ranch, High Step Racing, LLC, TCC Stables, LLC and YNG Stables, LLC, The Puma has five starts in his career–all this year–and has one win, two seconds and a third.

Following his second in the Florida Derby, he was assigned 10-1 morning-line odds for the GI Kentucky Derby but was scratched the morning of the race because of swelling in his leg.

His first race back was the Haskell. Now the target is the Midsummer Derby.

“I have had a lot of faith in this horse since early in his career,” said Castellano, who rode The Puma when he broke his maiden in the Tampa Bay Derby. “Unfortunately, he got hurt right before the (Kentucky) Derby. He is a cool horse.”

Baffert Knows How to Pass the Test

From the start, Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffet had high hopes for Explora (Blame), now a 3-year-old filly.

“Oh yeah, we knew she was a real good filly,” Baffert said by phone from his summer base at Del Mar.

How good? Well, in nine starts in her career, the ‘TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard’ has five wins and three seconds.

Explora takes in her surroundings Thursday | Sarah Andrew

Explora, owned by Mike Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman, will look to put her first Grade I win on her resume when she runs in Saturday’s $500,000 Test Stakes at Saratoga. She is the 5-2 morning-line favorite in the field of eight and will be ridden by Flavien Prat.

Explora has run in three Grade Is so far. She was second in the Del Mar Debutante as a 2-year-old, losing to stablemate Bottle of Rouge (Vino Rosso), owned by Baffet’s wife, Jill. She was also second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.

This year, Explora was fourth in the GI Kentucky Oaks when she went off at odds of 7-1, the first time in her career she was not sent off as the favorite.

After setting the pace, she relinquished the lead late in the 1 1/8-mile race and finished fourth.

“I really thought she could have won the Kentucky Oaks,” Baffert said. “She took all the pace early and we thought it might be a little too far for her.”

That was the only time Explora ever went that distance.

She has navigated the seven-furlong Test distance three times and has two wins and a second. Explora shipped into the Spa earlier this week from Churchill Downs, where she has been since the spring.

Earlier this year, she beat Counting Stars (Honor A.P.), the leader of the 3-year-old filly division, in the Grade III Honeybee at Oaklawn Park. Her margin of victory was three-quarters of a length.

Baffert, who has won the Test three times, knows this is a stern, well, test, for his filly. But he has the confidence. He does not ship a horse unless he has that.

“She drew well (post seven) and she should love the distance,” Baffert said. “We just need some racing luck.”

The post Saratoga Notebook, presented by NYRA Bets: Pletcher Humbled as he Nears 6,000 Wins appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Milestone 2,000th Win for Jockey Mychel Sanchez

---

With more than a decade riding in the U.S., primarily in the Mid-Atlantic, jockey Mychel Sanchez recorded the 2,000th victory of his North American career Thursday at Colonial Downs when he won the last race aboard Princess Summer (Mastery), a 12-1 Mike Maker trainee.

Sanchez, who has earned nearly $70 million in purses, began Thursday with 1,998 career wins, but also won Colonial’s first race with Call Me Andy (Midshipman) for trainer Jamie Ness. Originally from Venezuela, Sanchez is regularly among the leading riders at both Colonial Downs and Parx Racing.

The post Milestone 2,000th Win for Jockey Mychel Sanchez appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Saratoga Notebook, presented by NYRA Bets: Pletcher Humbled as he Nears 6,000 Wins

---

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Todd Pletcher is going to have to wait at least one more day before he can be called Mr. 6,000.

The Hall of Fame trainer is one win away from reaching that lofty number for career training wins.

“I have not spent a lot of time thinking about it,” Pletcher said outside his office on a steamy Thursday morning at the Oklahoma Training Track. “I did see a couple months ago that we were getting close, and I thought to myself it would be cool if it could happen at Saratoga.”

Some of Pletcher’s finest moments have come at the Spa. He has won a record 15 training titles at Saratoga. The big races? He got the GI Whitney Stakes four times, ditto the GI Alabama Stakes. He sat in the Travers canoe three times and has claimed the GII Jim Dandy a record nine times. The list goes on and on.

The 59-year-old from Dallas had two chances to get that magic number on Thursday. In the seventh, his 4-year-old gelding Highlands Way (Not This Time) rallied strongly down the stretch of the inner turf but settled for second in an allowance race.

In the ninth, the featured John Morrissey Stakes, Donegal Surges (Candy Ride {Arg}) finished seventh.

On Friday, Pletcher has two horses entered on the card: Big Frosty (Big Brown), who is on the AE list in the third, and Code (Tiz the Law), who is 20-1 on the morning line in the $500,000 GII Saratoga Oaks.

Pletcher will become the seventh trainer to reach 6,000. No. 1 on the list is Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, who entered Thursday with 11,294 wins. Pletcher, though, is atop the earnings list with $525,948,925.

When he first took out his trainer’s license in late 1995 after cutting his teeth as an assistant for the late, great D. Wayne Lukas, never did he think he would one day be approaching such a mammoth number for career wins.

“No. Honestly, when you start off, all you are thinking about is getting that first win,” he said. “And you do the best you can. That has been our motto all along: try to be the best we can with every horse that we get the opportunity to train. If that means developing it into a Grade I champion, awesome.

“If that means finding their level in maiden 25 and being able to be competitive and win, that is what we try to do,” he said.

One day, perhaps when he allows himself to slow down just a little, he will reflect on the accomplishment, one that will surely come in the next few days. For now, though, Pletcher isn’t slowing down.

“That is what is unique about this business,” he said. “There is never really a final game of the season, you know? You have to start all over again tomorrow. I have found, and I don’t know why, but when you get to some of these milestones, it does allow you to reflect a little bit and think about not only the people that have contributed, but all the horses. Each and every horse is important, and every win means something.”

Castellano Hoping The Puma Gives Him his Eighth Travers Win

No jockey has won more GI Travers Stakes than Javier Castellano. He has seven of them on his resume and is looking to add to that later this month when he rides The Puma (Essential Quality) in the $1.25-million GI Travers Stakes.

“I have been very blessed,” Castellano said Thursday morning.

Javier Castellano and The Puma work Thursday morning | Sarah Andrew

Castellano was talking outside the barn of Gustavo Delgado at the Oklahoma Training Track. He had just worked his Travers partner five furlongs in 1:02.16 (7/7) on the main track.

“Very easy. For me, the work was excellent,” Delgado said after the work. “I told Castellano before the breeze, ‘relax.’ We have time. We have two more works before the Travers. Relax, relax, relax. Very good.”

Thursday’s work was The Puma’s first since finishing fourth in the GI Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park on July 18. It was the also the first time Castellano has been on the colt’s back since he rode him to a second-place finish in the GI Florida Derby in March.

In that race, The Puma lost by a nose to Commandment (Into Mischief).

“We were not looking for a fancy work,” Castellano said. “Just wanted to see how he felt. He liked the track; I liked the way he traveled. He has always been a laid-back horse. Since March, it seems to me he had grown physically, but mentally, he is the same horse.”

Owned by OGMA Investments, LLC, JR Ranch, High Step Racing, LLC, TCC Stables, LLC and YNG Stables, LLC, The Puma has five starts in his career–all this year–and has one win, two seconds and a third.

Following his second in the Florida Derby, he was assigned 10-1 morning-line odds for the GI Kentucky Derby but was scratched the morning of the race because of swelling in his leg.

His first race back was the Haskell. Now the target is the Midsummer Derby.

“I have had a lot of faith in this horse since early in his career,” said Castellano, who rode The Puma when he broke his maiden in the Tampa Bay Derby. “Unfortunately, he got hurt right before the (Kentucky) Derby. He is a cool horse.”

Baffert Knows How to Pass the Test

From the start, Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffet had high hopes for Explora (Blame), now a 3-year-old filly.

“Oh yeah, we knew she was a real good filly,” Baffert said by phone from his summer base at Del Mar.

How good? Well, in nine starts in her career, the ‘TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard’ has five wins and three seconds.

Explora takes in her surroundings Thursday | Sarah Andrew

Explora, owned by Mike Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman, will look to put her first Grade I win on her resume when she runs in Saturday’s $500,000 Test Stakes at Saratoga. She is the 5-2 morning-line favorite in the field of eight and will be ridden by Flavien Prat.

Explora has run in three Grade Is so far. She was second in the Del Mar Debutante as a 2-year-old, losing to stablemate Bottle of Rouge (Vino Rosso), owned by Baffet’s wife, Jill. She was also second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.

This year, Explora was fourth in the GI Kentucky Oaks when she went off at odds of 7-1, the first time in her career she was not sent off as the favorite.

After setting the pace, she relinquished the lead late in the 1 1/8-mile race and finished fourth.

“I really thought she could have won the Kentucky Oaks,” Baffert said. “She took all the pace early and we thought it might be a little too far for her.”

That was the only time Explora ever went that distance.

She has navigated the seven-furlong Test distance three times and has two wins and a second. Explora shipped into the Spa earlier this week from Churchill Downs, where she has been since the spring.

Earlier this year, she beat Counting Stars (Honor A.P.), the leader of the 3-year-old filly division, in the Grade III Honeybee at Oaklawn Park. Her margin of victory was three-quarters of a length.

Baffert, who has won the Test three times, knows this is a stern, well, test, for his filly. But he has the confidence. He does not ship a horse unless he has that.

“She drew well (post seven) and she should love the distance,” Baffert said. “We just need some racing luck.”

The post Saratoga Notebook, presented by NYRA Bets: Pletcher Humbled as he Nears 6,000 Wins appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.