Saratoga Notebook, Presented by NYRA Bets: Corruption All Good Day After Heat Incident

[Wandering Eyes]

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Just after 6:30 on a dreary, rainy Thursday morning, a 4-year-old gelding named Corruption (Medaglia d'Oro), with a long white blaze on his face, stuck his dark brown head out of his stall at Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse's barn on the Saratoga backstretch.

Bright-eyed and inquisitive, he gobbled up a peppermint. If he could have spoken, he might have said, 'what's the big deal? I feel fine.”

About 15 1/2 hours prior, he wasn't.

After winning Saratoga's fourth race on Wednesday and returning to the winner's circle, Corruption, owned by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Harry Colburn, was in distress. It appeared as though he was impacted by Wednesday's 90-degree heat.

Corruption fell, got back to his feet but was wobbly for several minutes while a team of racing guardian angels jumped into action.

A group effort from Casse's team–as well as members of trainer Miguel Clement's stable, which had two horses in the race–rushed to the aid of the distressed Corruption. So too did jockey Jose Ortiz, who rode Corruption, as well as other jockeys in the race–Irad Ortiz, Jr., Kendrick Carmouche and Dylan Davis.

“That was fantastic,” Casse said outside his barn on the Saratoga backstretch. “I was just in awe. It was a big negative to see the horse go down like that in front of everyone, but then the love and the positive overrode all of that.”

Jose Ortiz said there was never any thought of not helping the struggling horse. After jumping off, he never left Corruption.

“That is what we do, we love the horses,” Jose Ortiz said Thursday morning. “I was happy that everyone jumped in and tried to help. We did what we were supposed to do and we basically saved him.”

The jockeys rushed buckets of ice to pour on Corruption to help cool him down. Clement and his assistant Lee Vickers pitched in. Trackside hoses were used.

Casse said that one of his employees, Amanda Romero, was in tears watching the whole scene unfold.

“I told her it was okay,” Casse said. “She said she wasn't crying because of that; she said she was crying because so many people helped. Nobody gets that these horses are like our kids. It hurts. I have had horses with heat exhaustion, but this was pretty bad.”

Corruption will have blood work done, Casse said, to make sure everything checks out. Thursday morning, all was good.

“It scared the hell out of me,” Casse said. “I am sure it scared the hell out of him.”

Consistent Sierra Leone Looking To Score Big in Whitney

In his 11-race career, 'TDN Rising Star' Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) has never run a bad one.

Eleven starts: four wins, four seconds and three third-place finishes.

Sierra Leone paddock schools Wednesday | Sarah Andrew

Trainer Chad Brown hopes the beat goes on for his 4-year-old on Saturday in the $1-million GI Whitney Stakes at Saratoga.

“He is doing great, super,” Brown said outside his office on the Oklahoma Training Track Thursday.

Sierra Leone, owned by Peter Brant, Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, Westerberg and Brook Smith, has had two starts this year following his win in last year's GI Breeders' Cup Classic, a victory that vaulted him to the Eclipse Award for champion 3-year-old.

He finished second in the GII New Orleans Classic Stakes in his 4-year-old debut and then was second to 'TDN Rising Star' Mindframe (Constitution) in the GI Stephen Foster Stakes. Jockey Flavien Prat, who has ridden Sierra Leone in his last six starts, will be on board.

Strong finishes are the norm for the late-running Sierra Leone, despite the lack of an early pace.

“If the pace is slow with good horses in the race, it's hard to make up ground on good horses,” Brown said. “It looks like there is plenty of speed in (the Whitney); we will see how the track is playing. This track can get a little speedy at times and favor forward horses. I hope that is not the case on Saturday. If the track is playing fair and the pace is honest enough, I think he has a good chance to run his race.”

This Whitney will include older horse heavyweights such as 'TDN Rising Star Fierceness (City of Light), White Abarrio (Race Day) and Highland Falls (Curlin). Mindframe is entered but will scratch as long as stablemate Fierceness is ready to go.

Brown, who is from nearby Mechanicville, has never won the Whitney. He has started four horses in the race in his career with the best finish coming from Zandon (Upstart), who was second in 2023.

“The list is getting smaller of the races we haven't won,” he said. “It is a very prestigious race in Saratoga, where I grew up, and it would be quite an honor to win it. There have been some great horses, some champion horses, some Hall of Fame horses that have run in this race. We are happy we are in it, and we have one of the main contenders.”

Johannes Ships East to get Season Started

A year ago, trainer Tim Yakteen thought his then 4-year-old Johannes (Nyquist) had done enough to win the Eclipse Award for top Male Turf Horse.

It wasn't enough.

Johannes on the track Wednesday | Sarah Andrew

In the closest vote of any of the 2024 Eclipse categories, Johannes was nipped 89-81 by Rebel's Romance (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), the winner of the GI Breeders' Cup Turf. Rebel's Romance won five of six starts last year.

Johannes also won five of six in 2024, the lone loss coming by three-quarters of a length to More Than Looks (More Than Ready) in the GI Breeders' Cup Mile.

“It was a letdown, disappointing,” Yakteen said Thursday morning on the Saratoga backstretch. “It is what it is. I'm not going to dwell on it. I was more disappointed for the horse and the connections. In this game, you just want to keep looking forward.”

Yakteen, based on the West Coast, shipped Johannes east to get his 2025 season started. Johannes is the 5-2 morning-line favorite in Saturday's $750,000 GI Fourstardave at a mile on the inner turf course. He is owned by Joe and Debby McCloskey's CUYATHY LLC.

One of the reasons for coming cross country is that the Fourstardave is part of the Breeders' Cup 'Win and You're In' challenge series. The winner of the race gets an automatic berth in the GI Breeders' Cup Mile at Del Mar on Nov. 1.

“And we are pretty limited in California with the number of Grade Is (on turf),” said Yakteen, who will be starting his first horse ever at Saratoga. “We are just hitting the reset position and starting again.”

This will only be the second time in his life that Johannes is running outside California. He was fifth, beaten two lengths in the GII American Turf Stakes at Churchill Downs on Kentucky Derby Day 2023.

Johannes, who will be ridden by Umberto Rispoli, has won four of five starts at a mile and Yakteen is hoping for a firm course. His horse does his best running on that condition, too,

“He just does everything with ease,” Yakteen said. “He is a good work horse in the morning and replicates that in the afternoon.”

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