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Saratoga Notebook, Presented by NYRA Bets: Golden Tempo Gets Back to Work, Records First Breeze at Saratoga

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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – After settling into his summer digs at Saratoga Race Course for the last week, Golden Tempo (Curlin) got back to work on Sunday.

The GI Kentucky Derby and GI Belmont Stakes champ had his first ever work at the Spa. With jockey Jose Ortiz on his back and under the watchful eye of trainer Cherie DeVaux, Golden Tempo stepped onto the main track just after 7 a.m.

He worked four furlongs in company with stablemate Being Myself (Curlin), a 4-year-old filly, in :48.51 (42/138). He was equipped with blinkers, which he also wears when he races.

“Very basic,” Ortiz said after the work. “It is what [DeVaux] wanted and it’s what he did. He is a very laid-back horse. In the mornings, he doesn’t show much. He just goes out there, does his job and comes home.”

Originally, the plan for Golden Tempo was to run in the $500,000 GII Jim Dandy Stakes here on Saturday. That was scrapped when the horse got sick while training at Keeneland, DeVaux’s main base of operation.

He was sent to Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington where he was examined by Dr. Peter Morresey. Golden Tempo was diagnosed with the beginnings of pneumonia.

“We thankfully caught it before it got out of control and was clinical,” DeVaux said. “He had four days of treatment in the clinic, and he was fine and happy and had no temperature.”

DeVaux will now train her dual Classic winner up to the $1.25-million GI Travers Stakes. It will be 12 weeks between his win in the Belmont and his start in the Midsummer Derby.

“We’ll keep increasing, tightening the screws on him each week,” DeVaux said about her plan on getting Golden Tempo to the Aug. 29 Travers. “He responds to training really well. He works a half-mile, but it’s usually the gallop-out that is where the work is done for him. It’s kind of build each week; ask a little more and then, as we get closer, put him in maintenance mode.”

Ortiz and Golden Tempo, owned by Phipps Stable and St. Elias Stable, made the long walk back to DeVaux’s barn, the furthest in distance from the main track to the Oklahoma Training Track. Golden Tempo didn’t seem to have a care in the world.

“He’s like an old soul,” DeVaux said. “Jose was walking back and wasn’t even holding onto the reins. He was hanging out, walking.”

Didn’t Take Long for Irad to Get Into Hunt

After spotting the rest of the field a six-day head start, four-time defending Saratoga riding champion Irad Ortiz Jr. is revving up.

As the fourth week of racing of the Saratoga summer season came to an end Sunday, Ortiz has already begun making a serious run.

With 31 days of racing remaining, Ortiz has work to do, but after winning three races on Thursday, one on Friday and six–six!–on Saturday, he has put himself in the game. He missed the first five days of the meet because of a suspension and also being out of town riding in Indiana for one day.

“I am just trying to do my best out there and take it day by day,” Ortiz said outside the jockey’s room before Sunday’s card. “I told you a lot of things can change every day.”

Sunday, it was Flavien Prat’s turn to have a big day. He had three wins to give him 27 and a three-race lead over Irad’s brother Jose. Manny Franco is fourth with 19 wins and Irad Ortiz, who won the last two races on Sunday’s card, has 18 winners.

“You knew he was going to come and he is coming,” Jose Ortiz said about Irad’s resurgence. “I knew he was going to do it. It’s not surprising to me at all. He is one of the best ever.”

The Ortiz brothers are both represented by agent Steve Rushing. He secures the mounts for both his clients, doesn’t play favorites.

“It’s absolutely a dream,” Rushing said Sunday. “We all kind of do our job. They let me do my job and I let them do theirs. It works out.”

Irad Ortiz knows there is still a long way to go until the summer winds blow out of town.

On Saturday, he rode in all 12 races; Sunday was riding in nine of 10. He enjoys the workload, wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I train myself to do that,” Irad Ortiz said. “You get used to it, honestly. When you ride all day, and you are always going, you don’t even feel it. I want to do it. I want as many chances as I can out there.”

Irad Ortiz | Sarah Andrew

Mark Casse is Ready to Play the Feud

It was a quiet celebration for Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse after West Point Thoroughbreds’ Counting Stars (Honor A.P.)  dominated the $500,000 GI Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga on Saturday.

Casse and his wife Tina had a quiet dinner, went home, watched an episode of the television show “Silo” and went to bed by 10 p.m. But, before turning off the tube, Casse had to get his daily dose of the game show “Family Feud.”

“I tell you this: every night I go to sleep to Steve Harvey and Family Feud,” Casse said outside his barn on the Saratoga backstretch Sunday morning. “It makes me laugh. I watch two minutes, take my glasses off, say good night and I love you to Tina and then I will lay down and answer two or three questions while I am going to sleep.”

West Point partners visiting Counting Stars Sunday | Sarah Andrew

Casse thinks he would be okay as a contestant on the Feud.

If one of the questions was to name the top 10 3-year-old fillies in the country, he would not hesitate on No. 1. That would be Counting Stars, who put herself squarely on top of the division with a resounding 4 1/4-length win over GI Kentucky Oaks winner Always a Runner (Gun Runner) in the CCA Oaks.

Counting Stars has two wins over Always a Runner, having previously beat her in the GI Acorn Stakes last month. Sunday morning, Counting Stars, with her CCA Oaks blanket and flowers draped in front of her stall, was receiving plenty of visitors who wanted to get a picture of the champ.

“Did I get nervous? Not much,” Casse said about his Saturday. “Do I feel any better today than I did yesterday? Maybe a little. I keep telling you, I think she can be better. She is unbelievable; she could do it again today.”

Counting Stars has three wins in six starts this year. She was third in the Kentucky Oaks.

The next target for the classy miss will be the $600,000 GI Alabama Stakes at 1 1/4 miles on Aug. 22.

The post Saratoga Notebook, Presented by NYRA Bets: Golden Tempo Gets Back to Work, Records First Breeze at Saratoga appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Improbable’s Maida Wires the Honorable Miss

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Harry Papaleo’s homebred Maida went wire-to-wire to earn her first graded victory in the GII Honorable Miss Stakes at Saratoga Sunday. The 6-1 shot spurted out to a clear early lead, taking the field through an opening quarter in :22.20. She was under threat from favored Grand Job as the half went up in :44:95. Grand Job appeared to briefly gain a narrow advantage, but Maida battled back, put the favorite away in deep stretch and pulled away to score by 1 1/2 lengths over late-flying Haulin Ice.

“We had [the Honorable Miss] on our radar, obviously,” said winning trainer Brittany Russell. “I just wanted to see how she came out of the last one. There was a race at Colonial, but off of a big run like that we wanted to take a big swing somewhere.

“To have Bill Mott’s filly [Grand Job] come up to her, I said, ‘Well, here’s the test.’ She’s never had a horse like that come to her. When she dug in, it makes you feel pretty good.”

Maida strung together three straight victories last year, from her 9 1/2-length maiden score at Laurel in June, to an optional-claiming win at Delaware in August, and finally to an eight-length stakes triumph in the Sept. 20 Weather Vane Stakes back at Laurel. She ended 2025 with a sixth-place effort in the Oct. 18 GII Raven Run Stakes at Keeneland and she returned with a 10 1/2-length romping victory in the June 27 Alma North Stakes at Laurel last time out.

“She’s always sort of been pretty classy,” winning jockey Sheldon Russell said of Maida. “She’s done everything right. The only bad race was the Keeneland race, and for whatever happened, she didn’t get away good. If you watch the race, she still tried, it just wasn’t her day. Since she’s come back off the layoff, she’s been flawless, stronger, better, faster. I was hoping for a big run, but today was awesome.”

Sheldon Russell was celebrating his first graded stakes win at Saratoga.

“I’ll be back, definitely,” he said. “We should just run her back here. What a cool moment. We are on tired legs–I rode Colonial [Downs] yesterday, drove home [to Maryland], caught a flight here this morning. When they win, it makes it all worth it.”

Pedigree Notes:

Maida is the second graded stakes winner for her late sire, Improbable, who was euthanized in March 2024 after standing just three seasons at stud. Governor Sam also recorded his graded victory at Saratoga, taking the 2025 GIII Quick Call Stakes.

Eve Giselle, winner of the 2011 GIII Endine Stakes, has a 2-year-old half-sister to the winner by Kantharos and a weanling half-sister by Bolt d’Oro.

Sunday, Saratoga
HONORABLE MISS S. PRESENTED BY MIONETTO-GII, $250,000, Saratoga, 7-26, 4yo/up, f/m, 6f, 1:10.43, ft.
1–MAIDA, 122, f, 4, by Improbable
1st Dam: Eve Giselle (GSW, $288,620), by Five Star Day
2nd Dam: Captiva Cat, by Tale of the Cat
3rd Dam: Donna Says So, by Turkoman
1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. O-G. Harry Papaleo; B-Harry
Papaleo (KY); T-Brittany T. Russell; J-Sheldon Russell.
$137,500. Lifetime Record: 7-5-0-0, $335,650. Werk Nick
   Rating: F. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
   Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Haulin Ice, 122, m, 5, Coal Front–She’s Smoke, by Half Ours.
($875,000 RNA 4yo ’25 FTDNOV). O-C Two Racing Stable,
WSS Racing and Agave Racing Stable; B-Eugenia Thompson
-Benight (AR); T-Saffie A. Joseph, Jr. $50,000.
3–Grand Job, 124, m, 5, Justify–Sure Route (GB), by Ishiguru.
($105,000 Ylg ’22 KEESEP). O-Bell Tower Thoroughbreds,
Medallion Racing and Stanton, Mark; B-Fullbury (KY);
T-William I. Mott. $30,000.
Margins: 1 1/4, 1, NO. Odds: 6.82, 4.73, 0.42.
Also Ran: Striker Has Dial, Kappa Kappa, Going Steady, Do Gooder.

Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuelTV.

Back-to-back stakes wins for MAIDA as she wins the Grade 2 Honorable Miss Stakes pres. by Mionetto under @SheldonRussell1 for trainer @BTRracingstable. pic.twitter.com/8KhyPg2S33

— NYRA () (@TheNYRA) July 26, 2026

The post Improbable’s Maida Wires the Honorable Miss appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Saratoga Notebook, Presented by NYRA Bets: Golden Tempo Gets Back to Work, Records First Breeze at Saratoga

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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – After settling into his summer digs at Saratoga Race Course for the last week, Golden Tempo (Curlin) got back to work on Sunday.

The GI Kentucky Derby and GI Belmont Stakes champ had his first ever work at the Spa. With jockey Jose Ortiz on his back and under the watchful eye of trainer Cherie DeVaux, Golden Tempo stepped onto the main track just after 7 a.m.

He worked four furlongs in company with stablemate Being Myself (Curlin), a 4-year-old filly, in :48.51 (42/138). He was equipped with blinkers, which he also wears when he races.

“Very basic,” Ortiz said after the work. “It is what [DeVaux] wanted and it’s what he did. He is a very laid-back horse. In the mornings, he doesn’t show much. He just goes out there, does his job and comes home.”

Originally, the plan for Golden Tempo was to run in the $500,000 GII Jim Dandy Stakes here on Saturday. That was scrapped when the horse got sick while training at Keeneland, DeVaux’s main base of operation.

He was sent to Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington where he was examined by Dr. Peter Morresey. Golden Tempo was diagnosed with the beginnings of pneumonia.

“We thankfully caught it before it got out of control and was clinical,” DeVaux said. “He had four days of treatment in the clinic, and he was fine and happy and had no temperature.”

DeVaux will now train her dual Classic winner up to the $1.25-million GI Travers Stakes. It will be 12 weeks between his win in the Belmont and his start in the Midsummer Derby.

“We’ll keep increasing, tightening the screws on him each week,” DeVaux said about her plan on getting Golden Tempo to the Aug. 29 Travers. “He responds to training really well. He works a half-mile, but it’s usually the gallop-out that is where the work is done for him. It’s kind of build each week; ask a little more and then, as we get closer, put him in maintenance mode.”

Ortiz and Golden Tempo, owned by Phipps Stable and St. Elias Stable, made the long walk back to DeVaux’s barn, the furthest in distance from the main track to the Oklahoma Training Track. Golden Tempo didn’t seem to have a care in the world.

“He’s like an old soul,” DeVaux said. “Jose was walking back and wasn’t even holding onto the reins. He was hanging out, walking.”

Didn’t Take Long for Irad to Get Into Hunt

After spotting the rest of the field a six-day head start, four-time defending Saratoga riding champion Irad Ortiz Jr. is revving up.

As the fourth week of racing of the Saratoga summer season came to an end Sunday, Ortiz has already begun making a serious run.

With 31 days of racing remaining, Ortiz has work to do, but after winning three races on Thursday, one on Friday and six–six!–on Saturday, he has put himself in the game. He missed the first five days of the meet because of a suspension and also being out of town riding in Indiana for one day.

“I am just trying to do my best out there and take it day by day,” Ortiz said outside the jockey’s room before Sunday’s card. “I told you a lot of things can change every day.”

Sunday, it was Flavien Prat’s turn to have a big day. He had three wins to give him 27 and a three-race lead over Irad’s brother Jose. Manny Franco is fourth with 19 wins and Irad Ortiz, who won the last two races on Sunday’s card, has 18 winners.

“You knew he was going to come and he is coming,” Jose Ortiz said about Irad’s resurgence. “I knew he was going to do it. It’s not surprising to me at all. He is one of the best ever.”

The Ortiz brothers are both represented by agent Steve Rushing. He secures the mounts for both his clients, doesn’t play favorites.

“It’s absolutely a dream,” Rushing said Sunday. “We all kind of do our job. They let me do my job and I let them do theirs. It works out.”

Irad Ortiz knows there is still a long way to go until the summer winds blow out of town.

On Saturday, he rode in all 12 races; Sunday was riding in nine of 10. He enjoys the workload, wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I train myself to do that,” Irad Ortiz said. “You get used to it, honestly. When you ride all day, and you are always going, you don’t even feel it. I want to do it. I want as many chances as I can out there.”

Irad Ortiz | Sarah Andrew

Mark Casse is Ready to Play the Feud

It was a quiet celebration for Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse after West Point Thoroughbreds’ Counting Stars (Honor A.P.)  dominated the $500,000 GI Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga on Saturday.

Casse and his wife Tina had a quiet dinner, went home, watched an episode of the television show “Silo” and went to bed by 10 p.m. But, before turning off the tube, Casse had to get his daily dose of the game show “Family Feud.”

“I tell you this: every night I go to sleep to Steve Harvey and Family Feud,” Casse said outside his barn on the Saratoga backstretch Sunday morning. “It makes me laugh. I watch two minutes, take my glasses off, say good night and I love you to Tina and then I will lay down and answer two or three questions while I am going to sleep.”

West Point partners visiting Counting Stars Sunday | Sarah Andrew

Casse thinks he would be okay as a contestant on the Feud.

If one of the questions was to name the top 10 3-year-old fillies in the country, he would not hesitate on No. 1. That would be Counting Stars, who put herself squarely on top of the division with a resounding 4 1/4-length win over GI Kentucky Oaks winner Always a Runner (Gun Runner) in the CCA Oaks.

Counting Stars has two wins over Always a Runner, having previously beat her in the GI Acorn Stakes last month. Sunday morning, Counting Stars, with her CCA Oaks blanket and flowers draped in front of her stall, was receiving plenty of visitors who wanted to get a picture of the champ.

“Did I get nervous? Not much,” Casse said about his Saturday. “Do I feel any better today than I did yesterday? Maybe a little. I keep telling you, I think she can be better. She is unbelievable; she could do it again today.”

Counting Stars has three wins in six starts this year. She was third in the Kentucky Oaks.

The next target for the classy miss will be the $600,000 GI Alabama Stakes at 1 1/4 miles on Aug. 22.

The post Saratoga Notebook, Presented by NYRA Bets: Golden Tempo Gets Back to Work, Records First Breeze at Saratoga appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Improbable’s Maida Wires the Honorable Miss

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Harry Papaleo’s homebred Maida went wire-to-wire to earn her first graded victory in the GII Honorable Miss Stakes at Saratoga Sunday. The 6-1 shot spurted out to a clear early lead, taking the field through an opening quarter in :22.20. She was under threat from favored Grand Job as the half went up in :44:95. Grand Job appeared to briefly gain a narrow advantage, but Maida battled back, put the favorite away in deep stretch and pulled away to score by 1 1/2 lengths over late-flying Haulin Ice.

“We had [the Honorable Miss] on our radar, obviously,” said winning trainer Brittany Russell. “I just wanted to see how she came out of the last one. There was a race at Colonial, but off of a big run like that we wanted to take a big swing somewhere.

“To have Bill Mott’s filly [Grand Job] come up to her, I said, ‘Well, here’s the test.’ She’s never had a horse like that come to her. When she dug in, it makes you feel pretty good.”

Maida strung together three straight victories last year, from her 9 1/2-length maiden score at Laurel in June, to an optional-claiming win at Delaware in August, and finally to an eight-length stakes triumph in the Sept. 20 Weather Vane Stakes back at Laurel. She ended 2025 with a sixth-place effort in the Oct. 18 GII Raven Run Stakes at Keeneland and she returned with a 10 1/2-length romping victory in the June 27 Alma North Stakes at Laurel last time out.

“She’s always sort of been pretty classy,” winning jockey Sheldon Russell said of Maida. “She’s done everything right. The only bad race was the Keeneland race, and for whatever happened, she didn’t get away good. If you watch the race, she still tried, it just wasn’t her day. Since she’s come back off the layoff, she’s been flawless, stronger, better, faster. I was hoping for a big run, but today was awesome.”

Sheldon Russell was celebrating his first graded stakes win at Saratoga.

“I’ll be back, definitely,” he said. “We should just run her back here. What a cool moment. We are on tired legs–I rode Colonial [Downs] yesterday, drove home [to Maryland], caught a flight here this morning. When they win, it makes it all worth it.”

Pedigree Notes:

Maida is the second graded stakes winner for her late sire, Improbable, who was euthanized in March 2024 after standing just three seasons at stud. Governor Sam also recorded his graded victory at Saratoga, taking the 2025 GIII Quick Call Stakes.

Eve Giselle, winner of the 2011 GIII Endine Stakes, has a 2-year-old half-sister to the winner by Kantharos and a weanling half-sister by Bolt d’Oro.

Sunday, Saratoga
HONORABLE MISS S. PRESENTED BY MIONETTO-GII, $250,000, Saratoga, 7-26, 4yo/up, f/m, 6f, 1:10.43, ft.
1–MAIDA, 122, f, 4, by Improbable
1st Dam: Eve Giselle (GSW, $288,620), by Five Star Day
2nd Dam: Captiva Cat, by Tale of the Cat
3rd Dam: Donna Says So, by Turkoman
1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. O-G. Harry Papaleo; B-Harry
Papaleo (KY); T-Brittany T. Russell; J-Sheldon Russell.
$137,500. Lifetime Record: 7-5-0-0, $335,650. Werk Nick
   Rating: F. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
   Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Haulin Ice, 122, m, 5, Coal Front–She’s Smoke, by Half Ours.
($875,000 RNA 4yo ’25 FTDNOV). O-C Two Racing Stable,
WSS Racing and Agave Racing Stable; B-Eugenia Thompson
-Benight (AR); T-Saffie A. Joseph, Jr. $50,000.
3–Grand Job, 124, m, 5, Justify–Sure Route (GB), by Ishiguru.
($105,000 Ylg ’22 KEESEP). O-Bell Tower Thoroughbreds,
Medallion Racing and Stanton, Mark; B-Fullbury (KY);
T-William I. Mott. $30,000.
Margins: 1 1/4, 1, NO. Odds: 6.82, 4.73, 0.42.
Also Ran: Striker Has Dial, Kappa Kappa, Going Steady, Do Gooder.

Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuelTV.

Back-to-back stakes wins for MAIDA as she wins the Grade 2 Honorable Miss Stakes pres. by Mionetto under @SheldonRussell1 for trainer @BTRracingstable. pic.twitter.com/8KhyPg2S33

— NYRA () (@TheNYRA) July 26, 2026

The post Improbable’s Maida Wires the Honorable Miss appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.