Laffit Pincay III & Sara Elbadwi look back at the Grade 1 Whitney Stakes and the Grade 1 Saratoga Derby.

The day after the death of Maple Leaf Mel, an emotional trainer Melanie Giddings tries to carry on at the barn. A gesture of kindness arrives from the barn of Pretty Mischievous, who was the winner of the Test Stakes (G1) after Maple Leaf Mel fell.

Fergus Galvin and Rebecca Hillen’s Safeen rallied down the center of Ellis Park’s turf course and got by Bling in the final strides to win the Aug. 6 $300,000 Pucker Up Stakes (G3T).

Saratoga Notebook

The premier event at the Spa, Aug. 7-8, allows buyers to purchase top-end prospects during the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale. The catalog features 235 exciting pages of progeny by the best stallions, out of prolific, accomplished female families.

For trainer John Ortiz the cherished moment of his 2-year-old filly Brightwork winning the $200,000 Adirondack Stakes (G3) for his first stakes race at Saratoga Race Course will always include the embrace he received from Bill Mott.

It was nearly a year ago that Lee Einsidler sat with his friend Bill Parcells and watched the Super Bowl-winning coach’s filly Maple Leaf Mel win the Seeking the Ante Stakes for New York State breds and told him she would win the Test Stakes.

The New York Racing Association took the seventh, ninth, and tenth races on the Aug. 6 card at Saratoga Race Course off the two turf courses after the track’s jockeys raised concerns about the condition of the courses.

In a desperate finish fought out between a rapidly improving 6-year-old in King Gold and a resurgent Spycatcher, the Arc Prix Maurice de Gheest (G1) did not disappoint. 

OXO Equine’s three-time winner Transect headlines a field of six 3-year-olds seeking stakes glory in the $250,000 Ellis Park Derby Aug. 13.