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Familiar Faces Return for Round Two in Saratoga’s Kelso

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Summer in Saratoga is a great occasion to love that particular course, and Zulu Kingdom (Ire) (Ten Sovereigns {Ire}) will look to avenge his third-place finish in last month’s GIII Poker Stakes even as the two horses who beat him also return in the GIII Kelso Stakes.

A multiple Grade I winner in his career, the Chad Brown-trained Zulu Kingdom has crossed the wire first every time he’s been at Saratoga–he was disqualified from his GII Hall of Fame win last year and placed fourth–and the Poker was only the second time in his career that horses physically finished ahead of him. Zulu Kingdom is clearly a fan of this course.

That being said, there is a lot of speed signed on here, and he’s shown a preference for the running style of late. There is prior form from his juvenile year that suggests he could sit well off whatever this pace becomes, and get a first-jump on the closers, but he won’t be the only one eyeballing those tactics. Jockey Flavien Prat will have to win the jockey’s race here just as much as his mount will need to be best on the day to take home the hardware.

Looking to once again play spoiler is Pass the Hat (Collected), the ever-improving chestnut from the Bill Mott barn who posted a career-best Beyer figure of 95 to defeat Zulu Kingdom and stablemate Capitol Hill (Into Mischief) the last time the trio met in the aforementioned Poker at this venue. If all the speed in this contest steps forward, the ball will be very much in his court to run them all down. Closing from well out of it has been Pass the Hat’s forte his entire career, and he’s on a two-race winstreak of late.

Capitol Hill shares that running style, and with only a nose separating these two on the line last out, he’s been knocking on the door for the last four times he’s faced stakes company in New York but has been unable to get the job done. The question here is one of class–runners to his inside have faced serious competition, and he’ll have an extra six bodies to contend with from the five-horse field in the Poker. Traffic problems could be a real concern.

Speaking of classy new shooters, Juddmonte’s Cosmic Year (GB) (Kingman {GB}) is one such example as his 3-year-old season in Europe saw him locking horns with some tough company, and running well for trainer Harry Charlton. He missed winning the G1 Irish 2000 Guineas to fellow Juddmonte-owned Field of Gold (Ire) (Kingman {GB}), who returned the following month at Royal Ascot to win the G1 St James’s Palace Stakes by 3 1/2 lengths over the classy GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner Henri Matisse (Ire) (Wootton Bassett {GB}).

Despite tailing off toward the end of his sophomore season, Cosmic Year clearly took to a change of environment as he was imported to the States to the barn of Chad Brown, and kicked off his 2026 U.S. campaign with a runner-up effort to Neat (Constitution) in the May 30 Cliffhanger Stakes at Monmouth on his seasonal bow. Manny Franco is in the irons for this second jump, and the pace is ripe to take advantage of…the question will be if he can run down the ones who got first jump on him, ala Zulu Kingdom.

The post Familiar Faces Return for Round Two in Saratoga’s Kelso appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Mashallah Leads A ‘Rising Star’ Exacta In Saratoga Saturday Opener

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Mashallah (Maxfield) blew the doors off in her debut race, easily earning a ‘TDN Rising Star’ for her 3 3/4-length win which saw her garner a top-of-the-class 106 Beyer Speed Figure at Keeneland Apr. 23.

Hammered down at Churchill facing winners at one mile May 30, she wound up fading from the lead to wind up a well-beaten fifth. The wagering public was undeterred by that effort, again rewarding her with the favorite’s role Saturday at 1-2 as she shortened back up to 6 1/2 furlongs.

The fastest from the blocks again in her first trip outside of Kentucky, Mashallah opted to sit a stalking trip as fellow ‘Rising Star’ Feminism (Curlin) dueled early with the come-backing Lovely Christina (Vekoma) through the half in :44.97.

Three wide and on the move around the far turn, the favorite swung into the stretch with a narrow advantage but found another gear at the furlong marker and kicked clear to lead in the ‘Rising Star’ exacta by seven lengths.

From her sire’s first crop, Mashallah is a $1.25-million OBS March grad and half-sister to both Hard Aces (Hard Spun), GISW, $1,272,215 and Astrollinthepark (Divine Park), MSW & GSP, $283,782. All in With Aces, who has 10 winners from 12 to race, last reported a now 2-year-old colt by Mandaloun named Nola Nights.

1st-Saratoga, $116,400, Alw (NW1$X)/Opt. Clm ($100,000), 7-4, 3yo, f, 6 1/2f, 1:16.69, ft, 7 lengths.
MASHALLAH (f, 3, Maxfield–All in With Aces, by Quiet American) Sales History: $165,000 Wlg ’23 KEENOV; $210,000 RNA Ylg ’24 KEESEP; $1,250,000 2yo ’25 OBSMAR. Lifetime Record: 3-2-0-0, $137,158. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
O-JR Ranch; B-Taylor Made Stallions Inc., Louis Brooks Ranch LTD, Baysore Stables, et al (KY); T-Brendan P. Walsh.

Our lovely MASHALLAH bounces back in style style with an easy off the pace victory in the opener today at Saratoga, ridden by @Tyler_Gaff for trainer @brenpwalsh

A talented daughter of Maxfield @DarleyStallions pic.twitter.com/iYqol4tm8T

— JR Ranch (@JRRanch1802) July 4, 2026

The post Mashallah Leads A ‘Rising Star’ Exacta In Saratoga Saturday Opener appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Familiar Faces Return for Round Two in Saratoga’s Kelso

---

Summer in Saratoga is a great occasion to love that particular course, and Zulu Kingdom (Ire) (Ten Sovereigns {Ire}) will look to avenge his third-place finish in last month’s GIII Poker Stakes even as the two horses who beat him also return in the GIII Kelso Stakes.

A multiple Grade I winner in his career, the Chad Brown-trained Zulu Kingdom has crossed the wire first every time he’s been at Saratoga–he was disqualified from his GII Hall of Fame win last year and placed fourth–and the Poker was only the second time in his career that horses physically finished ahead of him. Zulu Kingdom is clearly a fan of this course.

That being said, there is a lot of speed signed on here, and he’s shown a preference for the running style of late. There is prior form from his juvenile year that suggests he could sit well off whatever this pace becomes, and get a first-jump on the closers, but he won’t be the only one eyeballing those tactics. Jockey Flavien Prat will have to win the jockey’s race here just as much as his mount will need to be best on the day to take home the hardware.

Looking to once again play spoiler is Pass the Hat (Collected), the ever-improving chestnut from the Bill Mott barn who posted a career-best Beyer figure of 95 to defeat Zulu Kingdom and stablemate Capitol Hill (Into Mischief) the last time the trio met in the aforementioned Poker at this venue. If all the speed in this contest steps forward, the ball will be very much in his court to run them all down. Closing from well out of it has been Pass the Hat’s forte his entire career, and he’s on a two-race winstreak of late.

Capitol Hill shares that running style, and with only a nose separating these two on the line last out, he’s been knocking on the door for the last four times he’s faced stakes company in New York but has been unable to get the job done. The question here is one of class–runners to his inside have faced serious competition, and he’ll have an extra six bodies to contend with from the five-horse field in the Poker. Traffic problems could be a real concern.

Speaking of classy new shooters, Juddmonte’s Cosmic Year (GB) (Kingman {GB}) is one such example as his 3-year-old season in Europe saw him locking horns with some tough company, and running well for trainer Harry Charlton. He missed winning the G1 Irish 2000 Guineas to fellow Juddmonte-owned Field of Gold (Ire) (Kingman {GB}), who returned the following month at Royal Ascot to win the G1 St James’s Palace Stakes by 3 1/2 lengths over the classy GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner Henri Matisse (Ire) (Wootton Bassett {GB}).

Despite tailing off toward the end of his sophomore season, Cosmic Year clearly took to a change of environment as he was imported to the States to the barn of Chad Brown, and kicked off his 2026 U.S. campaign with a runner-up effort to Neat (Constitution) in the May 30 Cliffhanger Stakes at Monmouth on his seasonal bow. Manny Franco is in the irons for this second jump, and the pace is ripe to take advantage of…the question will be if he can run down the ones who got first jump on him, ala Zulu Kingdom.

The post Familiar Faces Return for Round Two in Saratoga’s Kelso appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Mashallah Leads A ‘Rising Star’ Exacta In Saratoga Saturday Opener

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Mashallah (Maxfield) blew the doors off in her debut race, easily earning a ‘TDN Rising Star’ for her 3 3/4-length win which saw her garner a top-of-the-class 106 Beyer Speed Figure at Keeneland Apr. 23.

Hammered down at Churchill facing winners at one mile May 30, she wound up fading from the lead to wind up a well-beaten fifth. The wagering public was undeterred by that effort, again rewarding her with the favorite’s role Saturday at 1-2 as she shortened back up to 6 1/2 furlongs.

The fastest from the blocks again in her first trip outside of Kentucky, Mashallah opted to sit a stalking trip as fellow ‘Rising Star’ Feminism (Curlin) dueled early with the come-backing Lovely Christina (Vekoma) through the half in :44.97.

Three wide and on the move around the far turn, the favorite swung into the stretch with a narrow advantage but found another gear at the furlong marker and kicked clear to lead in the ‘Rising Star’ exacta by seven lengths.

From her sire’s first crop, Mashallah is a $1.25-million OBS March grad and half-sister to both Hard Aces (Hard Spun), GISW, $1,272,215 and Astrollinthepark (Divine Park), MSW & GSP, $283,782. All in With Aces, who has 10 winners from 12 to race, last reported a now 2-year-old colt by Mandaloun named Nola Nights.

1st-Saratoga, $116,400, Alw (NW1$X)/Opt. Clm ($100,000), 7-4, 3yo, f, 6 1/2f, 1:16.69, ft, 7 lengths.
MASHALLAH (f, 3, Maxfield–All in With Aces, by Quiet American) Sales History: $165,000 Wlg ’23 KEENOV; $210,000 RNA Ylg ’24 KEESEP; $1,250,000 2yo ’25 OBSMAR. Lifetime Record: 3-2-0-0, $137,158. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
O-JR Ranch; B-Taylor Made Stallions Inc., Louis Brooks Ranch LTD, Baysore Stables, et al (KY); T-Brendan P. Walsh.

Our lovely MASHALLAH bounces back in style style with an easy off the pace victory in the opener today at Saratoga, ridden by @Tyler_Gaff for trainer @brenpwalsh

A talented daughter of Maxfield @DarleyStallions pic.twitter.com/iYqol4tm8T

— JR Ranch (@JRRanch1802) July 4, 2026

The post Mashallah Leads A ‘Rising Star’ Exacta In Saratoga Saturday Opener appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.