Sovereignty breezes for G1 Breeders’ Cup Classic

• Sovereignty breezes for G1 Breeders’ Cup Classic
• Iron Dome looms large in $250K Empire Classic
• Casse works Breeders’ Cup contenders Bring Theband Home and Final Accord at Belmont Park
• Village Voice works for G1 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf
• Rodriguez wins Saturday’s starter race named for former trainee Royal Posse

Godolphin’s Kentucky homebred Sovereignty breezed five furlongs in 1:01.39 on Sunday over the Oklahoma dirt training track at Saratoga Race Course as he prepares for the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic on November 1 at Del Mar.

Trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, Sovereignty was piloted in the work by assistant trainer Neil Poznansky, starting slightly in front of workmate Playa Del Mar [1:02.27] before kicking away strongly in the stretch and finishing several lengths in front. NYRA Clockers caught Sovereignty through splits of 24 2/5, 36 3/5 and galloping out in 1:14 3/5 over the fast track.

“He looked good,” Mott said. “He is not one of those horses that works and breaks the stopwatch. He has good solid works, good useful works, that is kind of him. He does what he has to do and what you have him do.”

Sovereignty needs no introduction with the sensational sophomore campaign he’s had. The Into Mischief bay has won 5-of-6 starts this year, including Grade 1 scores in the Kentucky Derby, Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets, and most recently, the DraftKings Travers on August 23 at the Spa.

Now, Sovereignty will take on top-level elders in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

“The main thing is you bring the right horse and get them there in good shape,” Mott said. “The horses are all going to be ready to run. They are going to be fit. Everybody is going to have their horses fit.”

Sovereignty is slated to ship on Wednesday and will work Sunday or Monday at Del Mar, according to Mott.

“I don’t have any reason to think he wouldn’t adapt quickly or well enough,” Mott said. “I’m going just a little bit early. A lot of guys like to do their last work and ship and that’s fine, the only reason I want to go a few days early is travel problems, you know what I mean, get it over with.”

On Sunday over the Oklahoma training turf, Quiet Street breezed five furlongs in 1:01.44 seconds, according to NYRA clockers, in company with Royal Majesty [1:01.65]. Quiet Street, a Kentucky homebred for Godolphin, is targeting the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf on October 31 at Del Mar.

Mott also reported that Juddmonte Kentucky homebred Scylla is targeting the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Distaff. The millionaire 5-year-old Tapit mare breezed a half-mile in 48.20 on Saturday at Churchill Downs, and most recently stretched back out for a third in the nine-furlong Spinster on October 5 at Keeneland off of three graded placings in sprints.

“I haven’t talked to Garrett [O’Rourke of Juddmonte], but as far as I know, we are going to run in the mile and an eighth Distaff,” said Mott. “She ran well enough [in the Spinster] and we thought maybe she didn’t prove enough and the sprint division is very deep, and maybe the other division looks like it lost the reigning Horse of the Year [Thorpedo Anna] and a couple others.”

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Iron Dome looms large in $250K Empire Classic

L and N Racing and Chester Broman, Sr.’s Iron Dome will look to emulate the success of his half-brother Mr. Buff in Saturday’s $250,000 Empire Classic, a nine-furlong route for New York-breds 3-years-old and up, at Belmont at the Big A. The Empire Classic is part of the fall Empire Showcase Day, featuring nine state-bred stakes races worth a combined $1.9 million in purse money.

Iron Dome, bred by Chester and the late Mary Broman, was purchased for $500,000 at the 2023 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. He is out of the graded stakes-placed Speightstown mare Speightful Affair, and is a half-brother to the popular Mr. Buff – a sizable 17-hands tall graded stakes-placed chestnut that banked more than $1.4 million through a 48-17-8-5 ledger, including back-to-back scores in the 2019-20 Empire Classic among his 11 stakes wins. Mr. Buff took honors as NYTB Champion Older Dirt Male in 2019-20.

L and N Racing’s Michael Levinson said he’s pleased to be co-campaigning the rising star with Chester Broman, who recently celebrated his 90th birthday.

“He's a legend in the New York breeding ranks. We asked him to stay in, and he agreed and it's worked out well,” Levinson said. “If things continue to work out, Iron Dome could be a top-five, top-10 horse [nationally] next year.”

Trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, Iron Dome was a three-time winner this summer at Saratoga Race Course – all in nine-furlong events versus fellow state-breds. He graduated at fifth asking by 10 1/2-lengths versus elders on July 16 and followed up with an 11-length allowance score versus elders on August 7.

The sophomore Into Mischief bay made his stakes debut a winning one on August 21, powering away to a 6 3/4-length victory versus fellow 3-year-olds in the $200,000 Albany presented by Albany Distilling Company. The Albany runner-up Hit the Post returned to win the state-bred Ontario County in emphatic fashion, and third-place finisher King’s Leap won a state-bred allowance.

Levinson noted that the light went on for Iron Dome after a third-place finish in a seven-furlong state-bred maiden won by Hit the Post on June 6 at the Spa.

“He ran third during the Belmont Festival going seven furlongs and then we finally got him to a distance he felt comfortable at, and he just turned the corner in the six weeks between those races,” Levinson said. “We were as surprised as anybody when he did what he did - we had always liked the horse, but you watch him run three or four times and they don't turn it on and then flash back to Saratoga, and he wins three in a row by 28 lengths. It's crazy how the sport works sometimes.

“He was just dominant,” Levinson added. “In the Albany, he maybe got a touch tired at the end from all the races he had up there, but he still won very impressively.”

The talented bay, with Jose Ortiz up, stepped into open company last out in the Grade 3 Oklahoma Derby on September 28 at Remington Park and landed a stalking 3 1/4-length second to prohibitive favorite Bracket Buster – runner-up in the Grade 1 DraftKings Travers. The pacesetting third-place finisher of the Oklahoma Derby, Mister Omaha, exited that event to win the Oklahoma Classics Cup Handicap on October 17 there.

“He got a little in tight into the turn along the rail and got held up a little bit. It kind of slowed him down, but once he got shifted out and started running, we were proud he got up for second,” Levinson said. “The horse that ran third won on Oklahoma Classics night by 10 [9 3/4-lengths] and Bracket Buster ran a 100 Beyer, so he'll be a top-class horse next year and we're hoping we have the same thing.

“He's got speed out of the gate which is surprising for how big he is, but he just has to have a clean run around there,” Levinson added. “I think Jose thought the one [Mister Omaha] was going to drop back a bit quicker than he did and then Jose had to swing him out - Jose put a good ride on him and gave him three great rides at Saratoga - so, nothing that Jose did, it's just the way the race worked out.”

Levinson noted that Iron Dome, who will be piloted Saturday by Ricardo Santana, Jr., is continuing to grow into his sizable frame.

“He's a great big horse and keeps his weight on. He's been sound since Day One. At Remington they said he weighed over 1,300 pounds, so a big horse like that it's going to take him some time to get going. He's probably a little smaller than Mr. Buff, but there's a lot to him - he's a big horse,” Levinson said.

Iron Dome returned to Kentucky following his graded placing and worked a half-mile in 51.60 seconds October 11 over the Churchill Downs main track.

“He came out of the Oklahoma Derby in really great shape and we're fully expecting to go up there and run a big race,” Levinson said.

L and N Racing are arguably best known for 2021 Champion 2-Year-Old Filly Echo Zulu [11-9-1-0, $2.6M], who they campaigned in partnership with Winchell Thoroughbreds; and the millionaire Lookin At Lee [35-4-6-4, $1.3M], runner-up to Always Dreaming in the 2017 Grade 1 Kentucky Derby, who now stands in New York at Irish Hill Century Farm.

“For the first horse we bought at auction to run second in the Derby - that's definitely beginner's luck,” Levinson said, with a laugh. “He was a hard-knocking horse with talent - a stakes-winner as a 2-year-old.

"We're doing a promotion this year where we’ll lower the stud fee to $1,000,” Levinson added. “And L and N Racing, who owns him, will provide a $2,500 bonus to any horse that wins a state-bred maiden special weight in New York."

Lookin At Lee, by Lookin At Lucky, is a half-brother to multiple graded stakes-winner Blended Citizen and Grade 1-placed Battlefield Angel. He is out of the graded stakes-winning Langfuhr mare Langara Lass – a full-sister to graded stakes-winner Madeira Park.

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Casse works Breeders’ Cup contenders Bring Theband Home and Final Accord at Belmont Park

Dual Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse sent out Bring Theband Home and Final Accord to post their final works on Sunday over the training track at Belmont Park in preparation for this year’s Breeders’ Cup World Championships slated for October 31 and November 1, at Del Mar.

“We thought they both went really well, and we’re excited,” Casse said. “I expect both of them to run very big in California.”

Live Oak Plantation’s Florida homebred Bring Theband Home was caught by NYRA clockers covering a half-mile in 47.11 in his first work back since an uncharacteristic seventh in the Grade 2 Nearctic on October 4 at Woodbine. There, he utilized his usual pacesetting tactics under Hall of Famer Javier Castellano, but weakened after facing pressure early and finished 3 1/2 lengths back of the victorious No Nay Hudson.

Casse said there were no obvious excuses for the Into Mischief bay, and that a return to New York seems to have helped put him back on his game.

“Bring Theband Home kind of threw a clunker at Woodbine, and it was a head-scratcher for us, so we brought him back to New York where he likes it, and he worked like his old self this morning,” Casse said. “He trained so-so into his last race, which is not like him. We ran him and Javier said he just wasn’t himself. We got him out of there as soon as possible and this morning, he was a fire plug. He was on his game.”

Bring Theband Home stamped himself as one of the nation’s top turf sprinters this summer when posting back-to-back 5 1/2-furlong stakes wins at Saratoga Race Course, taking the Listed Harvey Pack by a dominant 4 1/4 lengths in a final time of 59.90 seconds on July 4, and following with another strong performance to take the Grade 2 Troy by 1 1/2 lengths on August 3. The efforts were awarded respective Beyer Speed Figures of 109 and 105, the former being the highest Beyer awarded to any turf horse this year.

Casse said speed is Bring Theband Home’s most valuable asset, and that early speed “will be the plan” again for the 5-year-old gelding in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.

Gary Barber and Peter Deutsch’s juvenile filly Final Accord, a rallying last-out winner of the six-furlong Grade 3 Matron on October 2 at Belmont at the Big A, covered a half-mile in 47.63 seconds, according to NYRA clockers. The War of Will bay is targeting the one-mile Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf on the Future Stars Friday program.

Casse said he is pleased with Final Accord’s development as she takes a perfect 2-for-2 record at as many tracks to the World Championships.

“She went around there and worked well, and she always shows that she’s a little special,” Casse said. “She’s 2-for-2 and has done everything right. I think she has a real big future. My only regret is that she hasn’t had a two-turn race, but I think the added distance is absolutely going to help her – you saw that in her win in the Matron with how she came running late. The mile will be perfect for her.”

Final Accord, who graduated on debut in a five-furlong maiden in September at Woodbine, was a $75,000 purchase at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale and is out of the winning Blame mare Closing Statement. Her third dam is dual Grade 1-winner Educated Risk.

Casse noted that both Final Accord and Bring Theband Home are slated to ship to California on Saturday, and that their Belmont breezes were their final works before the Breeders’ Cup.

In addition to his two turf stars, Casse will send out one of the top contenders in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Distaff with D.J. Stable’s Grade 1-winning sophomore Nitrogen. The daughter of Medaglia d’Oro was last seen finishing a head second to Gin Gin in the Grade 1 Spinster on October 5 at Keeneland, where she dueled the length of the stretch with her rival after a stalking three-wide trip.

Casse said he was “extremely pleased” with Nitrogen’s effort, which came on the heels of a 1 1/2-length victory in Saratoga’s Grade 1 Alabama presented by Keeneland Sales on August 16.

“She’s doing great. Things didn’t go exactly as planned, and we would have liked to have won, but I was just looking at her record in her last eight starts, and she’s only a head and a nose from being undefeated this year,” Casse said, alluding to the Spinster and her nose second to Fionn in the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks Invitational on turf in June at the Spa. “It’s been against nothing but the best of her company.”

Casse added that Nitrogen is expected to breeze on Wednesday or Thursday at Churchill Downs before shipping to California on Sunday.

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Village Voice works for G1 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf

Resolute Racing’s Village Voice completed her first breeze back on Sunday since winning the Grade 3 Waya on October 5 at Belmont at the Big A as she prepares for the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf on November 1 at Del Mar.

Trained by five-time Eclipse Award winner Chad Brown, the 5-year-old Zarak mare breezed a half-mile in 50.16 seconds in company with Alimara over the Oklahoma training turf at Saratoga Race Course.

“Just a little maintenance half on the turf,” said Brown. “I thought she was moving really well. Her first work back since her win. I thought it was just what we were looking for. She’ll have one more work next week and then head out to take a shot at the Breeders’ Cup.”

Village Voice was a $1,727,463 purchase at the 2024 Tattersalls December Mare Sale and made her first start for Brown off a nearly one-year layoff in the 11-furlong Waya. There, Village Voice rallied from 8th-of-10 to post a neck victory over Beach Bomb in a final time of 2:15.71, registering a 95 Beyer Speed Figure.

“I expected her to run well. I knew the layoff was going to be something for her to overcome. I was quite impressed that off nearly a year, she was able to have that kick and beat a field of horses that were fit and in form,” Brown said. “I was very pleased to see it, I wasn’t surprised. She was training well, I just needed to see her do it off a layoff, which was a big ask and she came through. She could be a top-class filly.”

Brown, a four-time Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf-winning trainer, said Village Voice fits the 11-furlong race, but it won’t be easy.

“It’s very challenging,” Brown said. “I find that race, because again it is a three-turn race, a lot of it depends on who is coming over. The American horses, generally those aren’t our best horses going that far, going that distance… the way I look at it is, if she’s a Grade 2, Grade 3 filly right now - I think she can be a Grade 1 horse - but that’s what all of the American horses are, so she clearly fits with the American horses.”

Village Voice made 12 prior starts overseas for conditioner Jessica Harrington, earning four wins and four group placings, including victories in the 1 1/2-mile Listed Prix des Tourelles last September at Saint-Cloud and the Group 3 Prix de Flore going 1 5/16 miles in October 2023 there.

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Rodriguez wins Saturday’s starter race named for former trainee Royal Posse

In May 2015, trainer Rudy Rodriguez claimed a bay son of Posse named Royal Posse for $20,000 out of a neck second in a one-turn mile at Belmont Park. The gelding would go on to win four stakes and two editions of Gulfstream Park’s Claiming Crown Jewel and banked more than $850,000 for Rodriguez and owners Michael Dubb, Bethlehem Stables and Gary Aisquith.

“He was a very, very special horse,” Rodriguez said. “We won the Empire Classic and two Claiming Crowns at Gulfstream with him. Just a very special horse.”

Royal Posse, who retired to Old Friends Equine in 2018, was one of 10 horses selected as the namesake of lucrative starter races on Saturday’s Fall Starter Championships program at Belmont at the Big A, which were named for some of the most popular claiming horses to have run on The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) circuit.

Fittingly, it was the Rodriguez-trained Forgiving Spirit who took Race 6, the seven-furlong $75,000 Royal Posse Starter for 3-year-olds and up who have started for a claiming price of $16,000 or less since July 1, 2024. The 6-year-old son of Shaman Ghost made his first start for Rodriguez, who co-owns the gelding with Patrick Mogauro, Jr. after claiming him for $16,000 out of a half-length second last out on October 2 here.

Ridden by Manny Franco, Forgiving Spirit stalked in sixth-of-9 early and made his move entering the turn, showing a strong turn-of-foot down the lane to gain with every stride and nail Takechargesmiling at the wire for the nose victory. The win brought his lifetime ledger to 34-7-4-4 with just shy of $300,000 in total purse earnings.

“That was so exciting to win that,” Rodriguez said. “I hoped I would win it, and it was a very good win. A tough race for him, but we got a great ride from Manny and I was just happy to have it go our way.

“It’s nice they do that,” he added of the starter program. “The fields were big, the handle was good, and they did very good. We should have those races more often. It gives these guys the chance to win and to use it as a stepping-stone to maybe the Claiming Crown at Churchill.”

Along with the Royal Posse, Saturday’s card saw its starter races won by Grammy Girl [Race 1 - Glass Ceiling], Breslau [Race 2 - Creme de La Fete], Double Your Money [Race 3 - Lone Rock], Mursal [Race 4 - Battle Bling], Goats On a Tree [Race 5 - Evvie Jets], Live High Live Low [Race 8 - Silver Timber], Light the Way [Race 9 - Be Bullish], Risk Manager [Race 10 - Voodoo Song] and Blossoming Erudite [Race 11 - Tiffany’s Taylor].

Rodriguez added that he will “take a look” at Churchill Downs’ seven-furlong Rapid Transit Starter on November 15 for Forgiving Spirit.