SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Though he won two Grade 1 stakes with his older dirt males over the weekend, trainer Todd Pletcher’s biggest victory may be the fact Mindframe was unharmed during a scary incident in the opening stages of Sunday’s $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup at Saratoga.
Mindframe ran loose for about a mile of the Jockey Gold Cup after he lost rider Irad Ortiz Jr. as a result of a chain of reaction of crowding and bumping that ultimately forced Ortiz to hit the ground. Fortunately, Ortiz escaped serious injury.
Pletcher reported Monday morning that all seemed well with Mindframe, who was previously 3 for 3 this year with two Grade 1 victories.
“I gave him my personal inspection this morning and he literally doesn’t have a nick on him,” Pletcher said. “We were very fortunate that way.”
Pletcher, who won the race with Antiquarian, said he is likely to just train Mindframe to the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar on Nov. 1.
“I think that’s a strong possibility,” Pletcher said. “He’s always run well fresh. I think you have to look at it as would running in the Woodward or Lukas Classic give him a better chance to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic? My first reaction to that question is no.”
Pletcher does not plan to run Antiquarian or Pacific Classic winner Fierceness again before the Classic. Antiquarian, ridden by John Velazquez, came up with a career-best performance winning the Gold Cup by 1 1/2 lengths over Sierra Leone. It was Antiquarian’s second stakes win – he captured last year’s Grade 3 Peter Pan – and he earned a career-best 108 Beyer Speed Figure.
“I do think the horse has been improving,” Pletcher said of Antiquarian, a son of Preservationist owned by Centennial Farms. “He’s been training well and his last couple of races have been pretty good, his figures keep improving.”
Antiquarian’s win came about 16 hours after Fierceness won Saturday’s Grade 1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar by 3 1/4 lengths over Journalism. Fierceness had an eventful beginning, ducking in and nearly contacting the inside rail before Velazquez was able to straighten him and work out a trip. That victory, his seventh from 13 career starts, enabled Fierceness to bounce back from a fifth-place finish in the Grade 1 Whitney here on Aug. 2.
“I was glad to see the horse redeem himself and not only win but also quiet the skeptics that say everything has to go his way in order for him to be successful,” Pletcher said.
Fierceness was due to return to Saratoga on Wednesday. Weather permitting, Pletcher said he will prepare all three of his BC Classic horses in Saratoga. That’s what he did last year and Fierceness finished second in the Classic to Sierra Leone.
Sierra Leone remains on target for a repeat bid in the Classic as he came out of his second-place finish in Sunday’s Jockey Club Gold Cup uninjured. Sierra Leone lost his action after he made contact with Ortiz early in the race.
Trainer Chad Brown said jockey Flavien Prat told him he nearly pulled the horse up and out of the race.
“But he felt good a few strides after so he put him back into the race and although he was much farther back than he wanted – his words – he decided to carry on and then the horse came under him and gave him a good run,” Brown said. “But he felt like he was just too far back. He probably lost five lengths for sure; he had to totally restart the horse again after breaking stride. The horse had a super-challenging trip. I’m proud of him that he stayed with it and was still nearly able to win.”
Sierra Leone will spend September in Saratoga and the bulk of October at Belmont Park before shipping to California,
Phileas Fogg, who finished third, was disqualified, and ordered unplaced in order of finish. On Monday, the stewards suspended Carmouche for five NYRA racing days. Carmouche has three days to inform the stewards if he plans to appeal. He would have to serve the days at the beginning of next summer’s Saratoga meet.
White Abarrio, who finished fifth but was elevated to fourth, came out of the bumping incident with Mindframe unscathed, according to trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. There was a moment when Ortiz was actually on top of White Abarrio as he tried to regain his balance.
“He bumped Mindframe so hard he turned him sideways and that’s after he got slammed by the horse on the outside and also had Irad on his back for a few seconds,” Joseph said. “I don’t know how much that riled him. It was a freaky thing that happened.”
Joseph said White Abarrio, who won the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Classic, would be pointed to the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.
- additional reporting by Mike Welsch
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