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Saratoga Notebook, Presented By NYRA Bets: Phileas Fogg Set To Take His Shot Vs. The Big Boys

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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The first Friday of September brought a sunny, crystal clear morning to Saratoga Race Course. It also brought a blur of a racehorse just after 7 a.m. on the main track.

Phileas Fogg (Astern {Aus}) and jockey Kendrick Carmouche whizzed past the far turn and barreled into the stretch, completing a five-furlong work in :59.44 (1/4).

It’s been a bit since we’ve seen Phileas Fogg at the races–62 days to be exact. When he last ran on July 4, Phileas Fogg buried 10 rivals in the GII Suburban Stakes, winning by 10 lengths.

Those who follow the 6-year-old won’t have to wait much longer. Phileas Fogg is scheduled to run next in the $1 million GI Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park on Sept. 18, which is the highly anticipated grand re-opening of the track, that has been undergoing a $455 million facelift over the last three years.

Phileas Fogg could be facing two of the biggest stars in horse racing in the Gold Cup in 2025 Horse of the Year Sovereignty (Into Mischief) and Forever Young (Jpn) (Real Steel {Jpn}), winner of 11 of 15 career starts, including last year’s GI Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Sovereignty, however, has developed an abscess in a hind foot and his status for the race could be in doubt.

“We are excited about going to that race,” trainer Gus Rodriguez said at his barn at the Oklahoma Training Track. “We know we have to run against those monsters.”

Phileas Fogg and @KendrickCarmou1 exit the Saratoga main track Friday morning after working 5f in 59.94. Next up is a date at the new @BelmontPark1905 on opening day — Sept. 18 — in the Jockey Club Gold
Cup pic.twitter.com/cwnp0eXZ4J

— Tim Wilkin (@tjwilkin) September 4, 2026

Phileas Fogg has given Rodriguez the only graded stake wins of his nine-year training career, both coming in the Suburban (2025 and 2026).

After he won this year’s Suburban, there was some talk of running Phileas Fogg in the $1 million GI Whitney Stakes on Aug. 8, but Rodriguez passed on that.

“We tried to get him ready for that, but he was not himself,” Rodriguez said. “He is doing really good right now.”

Another appeal of the Jockey Club Gold Cup is the 1 1/4 mile distance. He has won three of the four races he has attempted at 1 1/4 miles.

The confirmed front runner will have his work cut out for him in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, Rodriguez knows. But he wants that chance for his horse, who is owned by Jupiter Stable LLC and has two wins in three starts this year.

Overall, he has 11 wins in 24 career starts with five seconds and a third.

“We know he loves this distance and if he doesn’t get pushed too much at the start, you never know,” Rodriguez said. “I don’t know about winning, but he is a good horse. I am not going to say he is good as those others, but you never know until they break out of the gate.”

High Official | Sarah Andrew

High Official Likely to Show His Stuff in Hopeful

In all likelihood, High Official (Not This Time) will be running in Sunday’s GI, $300,000 Hopeful, the final Grade I of the Saratoga summer.

It’s not as though Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher didn’t have another option for the colt, who was bred and owned by Lawana and Robert Low. High Official was also entered in Saturday’s $225,000 GIII With Anticipation, a 1 1/16-mile race on the inner turf course.

That makes sense because High Official began his career with a two-length maiden win at the With Anticipation distance on July 26.

But …

“He is a very well-bred horse and (the Hopeful) is a Grade I and it would essentially make him a stallion prospect if he were able to win that,” Pletcher said outside his office at his barn at the Oklahoma Training Track Friday morning, “The With Anticipation would be earning some graded points towards the Breeders’ Cup bout probably wouldn’t make him a stallion prospect.”

Pletcher said he is “leaning towards the Hopeful.”

“He has trained really well on the dirt,” Pletcher said. “We felt at some point we wanted to try him (on the dirt) so we entered.”

Pletcher has won the Hopeful five times, the latest being with 2025 2-year-old champ Ted Noffey (Into Mischief). He knows what it takes to get a young colt ready for a Grade I early in his career.

“Obviously, they have to be precocious,” Pletcher said. “They have to be ready a month ago, at least, to set them up for a race like this. I think we are seeing less and less starts in horses going into races like this. It seems to be the trend in racing in general, not just the 2-year-olds.”

Five of the eight colts entered in the Hopeful have had just one start.

Stress Relief with Kinnon LaRose | Sarah Andrew

Stress Relief Will Always be Special for LaRose

No matter how many wins or how many champions he–hopefully–trains, Kinnon LaRose will always have a soft spot in his heart for a kind filly named Stress Relief (Not This Time).

She won the GIII Adirondack Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 2, giving LaRose his first graded stakes win. LaRose took over the head training duties when his boss, Tom Amoss, retired in March.

The dark brown filly with the long white blaze is a sweetheart around the barn, always sniffing for peppermints. But, once on the track, she is all business, and it shows as she has won both her career starts by 8 1/4 lengths.

“She has meant the world to us,” LaRose said outside his backstretch barn. “It was great to (win first graded stake) with her. She is so cool to be around. She doesn’t have a mean bone in her body, loves attention and loves her peppermints.”

LaRose hopes he can squeeze a little more Saratoga magic out of Stress Relief, owned by Joel Politi, in Saturday’s GI, $300,000 Adirondack at seven furlongs.

She will be ridden by Junior Alvarado, who was the jockey for her when Stress Relief won the Adirondack. LaRose is hopeful she can take the nest step up the ladder after breaking her maiden at Churchill Downs on June 20 at five furlongs and then the Adirondack at 6 11/2 furlongs.

“She has had a good summer,” LaRose said. “She is the kind of filly you are never going to forget. She opened a lot of doors for me. She is special, easy to be around and makes our team look good. We just try to stay out of her way.”

The post Saratoga Notebook, Presented By NYRA Bets: Phileas Fogg Set To Take His Shot Vs. The Big Boys appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Sovereignty Will Miss Weekend Work, Gold Cup In Jeopardy

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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Sovereignty (Into Mischief), the 2025 Horse of the Year, has developed an abscess in a hind foot and will miss a Saturday work, Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott said Friday afternoon.

The news was first reported by Dave Grening and the Daily Racing Form.

Whether or not that will put his next race–the $1 million GI Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park Sept. 18 in doubt–remains to be seen.

“I could not comment on that one way or another,” Mott told the TDN in the Saratoga paddock Friday.

Sovereignty, who won the GI Whitney Stakes on Aug. 8 in his last start, did gallop on the Oklahoma Training Track Friday morning. It was then discovered that the 4-year-old, who has won seven of 12 career starts (one win, one second and one third in three starts this year) had an abscess.

“We decided (Friday) morning that he was not going to work this weekend,” Mott said. “We’re not trying to cover anything up. The horse has an issue with the hind foot, and we have to see if we can get it cleared up over the weekend. He will miss a work.”

Mott said, in his experience, it’s hard to tell how long a problem like this can take to be resolved.

“Everyone is an individual, he said.

If Sovereignty, a Godolphin homebred, can work next weekend, he could still make the Jockey Club Gold Cup, but the trainer did say he will miss a few days of training.

“Am I worried? I am concerned every minute of the day,” Mott said.

Last year, Sovereignty had his appearance in the GI Breeders’ Cup Classic derailed when he spiked a fever a few days before the race.

The Jockey Club Gold Cup, which is christening the much-anticipated re-opening of the renovated Belmont Park, which took three years and $455 million to rebuild, was expected to feature a showdown between Sovereignty and Japanese champ Forever Young (Jpn) (Real Steel {Jpn}).

The post Sovereignty Will Miss Weekend Work, Gold Cup In Jeopardy appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Saratoga Notebook, Presented By NYRA Bets: Phileas Fogg Set To Take His Shot Vs. The Big Boys

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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The first Friday of September brought a sunny, crystal clear morning to Saratoga Race Course. It also brought a blur of a racehorse just after 7 a.m. on the main track.

Phileas Fogg (Astern {Aus}) and jockey Kendrick Carmouche whizzed past the far turn and barreled into the stretch, completing a five-furlong work in :59.44 (1/4).

It’s been a bit since we’ve seen Phileas Fogg at the races–62 days to be exact. When he last ran on July 4, Phileas Fogg buried 10 rivals in the GII Suburban Stakes, winning by 10 lengths.

Those who follow the 6-year-old won’t have to wait much longer. Phileas Fogg is scheduled to run next in the $1 million GI Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park on Sept. 18, which is the highly anticipated grand re-opening of the track, that has been undergoing a $455 million facelift over the last three years.

Phileas Fogg could be facing two of the biggest stars in horse racing in the Gold Cup in 2025 Horse of the Year Sovereignty (Into Mischief) and Forever Young (Jpn) (Real Steel {Jpn}), winner of 11 of 15 career starts, including last year’s GI Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Sovereignty, however, has developed an abscess in a hind foot and his status for the race could be in doubt.

“We are excited about going to that race,” trainer Gus Rodriguez said at his barn at the Oklahoma Training Track. “We know we have to run against those monsters.”

Phileas Fogg and @KendrickCarmou1 exit the Saratoga main track Friday morning after working 5f in 59.94. Next up is a date at the new @BelmontPark1905 on opening day — Sept. 18 — in the Jockey Club Gold
Cup pic.twitter.com/cwnp0eXZ4J

— Tim Wilkin (@tjwilkin) September 4, 2026

Phileas Fogg has given Rodriguez the only graded stake wins of his nine-year training career, both coming in the Suburban (2025 and 2026).

After he won this year’s Suburban, there was some talk of running Phileas Fogg in the $1 million GI Whitney Stakes on Aug. 8, but Rodriguez passed on that.

“We tried to get him ready for that, but he was not himself,” Rodriguez said. “He is doing really good right now.”

Another appeal of the Jockey Club Gold Cup is the 1 1/4 mile distance. He has won three of the four races he has attempted at 1 1/4 miles.

The confirmed front runner will have his work cut out for him in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, Rodriguez knows. But he wants that chance for his horse, who is owned by Jupiter Stable LLC and has two wins in three starts this year.

Overall, he has 11 wins in 24 career starts with five seconds and a third.

“We know he loves this distance and if he doesn’t get pushed too much at the start, you never know,” Rodriguez said. “I don’t know about winning, but he is a good horse. I am not going to say he is good as those others, but you never know until they break out of the gate.”

High Official | Sarah Andrew

High Official Likely to Show His Stuff in Hopeful

In all likelihood, High Official (Not This Time) will be running in Sunday’s GI, $300,000 Hopeful, the final Grade I of the Saratoga summer.

It’s not as though Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher didn’t have another option for the colt, who was bred and owned by Lawana and Robert Low. High Official was also entered in Saturday’s $225,000 GIII With Anticipation, a 1 1/16-mile race on the inner turf course.

That makes sense because High Official began his career with a two-length maiden win at the With Anticipation distance on July 26.

But …

“He is a very well-bred horse and (the Hopeful) is a Grade I and it would essentially make him a stallion prospect if he were able to win that,” Pletcher said outside his office at his barn at the Oklahoma Training Track Friday morning, “The With Anticipation would be earning some graded points towards the Breeders’ Cup bout probably wouldn’t make him a stallion prospect.”

Pletcher said he is “leaning towards the Hopeful.”

“He has trained really well on the dirt,” Pletcher said. “We felt at some point we wanted to try him (on the dirt) so we entered.”

Pletcher has won the Hopeful five times, the latest being with 2025 2-year-old champ Ted Noffey (Into Mischief). He knows what it takes to get a young colt ready for a Grade I early in his career.

“Obviously, they have to be precocious,” Pletcher said. “They have to be ready a month ago, at least, to set them up for a race like this. I think we are seeing less and less starts in horses going into races like this. It seems to be the trend in racing in general, not just the 2-year-olds.”

Five of the eight colts entered in the Hopeful have had just one start.

Stress Relief with Kinnon LaRose | Sarah Andrew

Stress Relief Will Always be Special for LaRose

No matter how many wins or how many champions he–hopefully–trains, Kinnon LaRose will always have a soft spot in his heart for a kind filly named Stress Relief (Not This Time).

She won the GIII Adirondack Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 2, giving LaRose his first graded stakes win. LaRose took over the head training duties when his boss, Tom Amoss, retired in March.

The dark brown filly with the long white blaze is a sweetheart around the barn, always sniffing for peppermints. But, once on the track, she is all business, and it shows as she has won both her career starts by 8 1/4 lengths.

“She has meant the world to us,” LaRose said outside his backstretch barn. “It was great to (win first graded stake) with her. She is so cool to be around. She doesn’t have a mean bone in her body, loves attention and loves her peppermints.”

LaRose hopes he can squeeze a little more Saratoga magic out of Stress Relief, owned by Joel Politi, in Saturday’s GI, $300,000 Adirondack at seven furlongs.

She will be ridden by Junior Alvarado, who was the jockey for her when Stress Relief won the Adirondack. LaRose is hopeful she can take the nest step up the ladder after breaking her maiden at Churchill Downs on June 20 at five furlongs and then the Adirondack at 6 11/2 furlongs.

“She has had a good summer,” LaRose said. “She is the kind of filly you are never going to forget. She opened a lot of doors for me. She is special, easy to be around and makes our team look good. We just try to stay out of her way.”

The post Saratoga Notebook, Presented By NYRA Bets: Phileas Fogg Set To Take His Shot Vs. The Big Boys appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Sovereignty Will Miss Weekend Work, Gold Cup In Jeopardy

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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Sovereignty (Into Mischief), the 2025 Horse of the Year, has developed an abscess in a hind foot and will miss a Saturday work, Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott said Friday afternoon.

The news was first reported by Dave Grening and the Daily Racing Form.

Whether or not that will put his next race–the $1 million GI Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park Sept. 18 in doubt–remains to be seen.

“I could not comment on that one way or another,” Mott told the TDN in the Saratoga paddock Friday.

Sovereignty, who won the GI Whitney Stakes on Aug. 8 in his last start, did gallop on the Oklahoma Training Track Friday morning. It was then discovered that the 4-year-old, who has won seven of 12 career starts (one win, one second and one third in three starts this year) had an abscess.

“We decided (Friday) morning that he was not going to work this weekend,” Mott said. “We’re not trying to cover anything up. The horse has an issue with the hind foot, and we have to see if we can get it cleared up over the weekend. He will miss a work.”

Mott said, in his experience, it’s hard to tell how long a problem like this can take to be resolved.

“Everyone is an individual, he said.

If Sovereignty, a Godolphin homebred, can work next weekend, he could still make the Jockey Club Gold Cup, but the trainer did say he will miss a few days of training.

“Am I worried? I am concerned every minute of the day,” Mott said.

Last year, Sovereignty had his appearance in the GI Breeders’ Cup Classic derailed when he spiked a fever a few days before the race.

The Jockey Club Gold Cup, which is christening the much-anticipated re-opening of the renovated Belmont Park, which took three years and $455 million to rebuild, was expected to feature a showdown between Sovereignty and Japanese champ Forever Young (Jpn) (Real Steel {Jpn}).

The post Sovereignty Will Miss Weekend Work, Gold Cup In Jeopardy appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.