That’s a wrap at the Spa.
Ted Noffey overpowered the field and cruised to an 8 ½-length victory over favorite Buetane in the $300,000 Hopeful Stakes (G1) for 2-year-olds on Monday, the final of 18 Grade 1 stakes at the prestigious Saratoga summer horse racing meet.
The victory by Ted Noffey ($9.62 on a $2 win bet) also capped a remarkable Labor Day weekend for Hall of Famers Todd Pletcher and John Velazquez.
The longtime trainer/jockey team picked up four Grade 1 wins in three days – the Spinaway Stakes for 2-year-old fillies with Tommy Jo and two “Win and You’re In" Breeders' Cup Challenge races to the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) – the Pacific Classic at Del Mar with Fierceness on Saturday and the Jockey Club Gold Cup with Antiquarian on Sunday.
For Pletcher, a pair of wins on closing day, gave him 32 for the meet and in the final race of the meet, Chad Brown picked up the win with Say Yes To Dreams and moved into a tie for leading trainer with his 32nd win. It’s Pletcher’s 15th Spa title and Brown’s eighth (Brown also shared the title with Linda Rice in 2023).
After 40 days of racing from July 10-Sept. 1, Irad Ortiz, Jr. was the leading jockey for the fourth year in a row with 59 wins.
Ortiz had already clinched his seventh overall Saratoga riding title prior to Sunday’s Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1), when he was unseated from Mindframe (trained by Pletcher) during a chain reaction of bumping just after the start. Ortiz did not ride on Monday but is expected to return later in the week at Kentucky Downs.
Ortiz topped his brother, Jose, who finished the meet with 55 wins. Irad did not win a Grade 1 at the Spa but won at a 20.6% clip – 59-for-286. He finished second 56 times and third 44 times for a top-3 finish rate of 55.6%.
Jose, meanwhile, won three Grade 1s at the Spa – the Alabama Stakes aboard Nitrogen, the Ballerina Stakes aboard Hope Road and the Test with Kilwin.
Brown’s Grade 1 wins came in the Whitney Stakes (G1) with Sierra Leone and in the Diana Stakes with Excellent Truth.
“It’s fun sportsmanship,’’ said Brown, noting that Linda Rice won the final race of the meet to share the title with Brown. “Hats off to Todd. He had the better meet with so many Grade 1s. I’m happy to share the title.”
Pletcher said that the “last couple of weeks, things have fallen into place.”
The biggest star of the meet, of course, was Sovereignty, the Kentucky Derby (G1) and Belmont Stakes (G1) winner for trainer Bill Mott. Sovereignty, ridden by Junior Alvarado, won the Jim Dandy Stakes (G1) and the Travers Stakes (G1).
Top jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. plans to return riding on Thursday at Kentucky Downs.
“I want to thank everyone for all the calls and texts and well wishes, I plan on taking a few days off and return to riding on Thursday at Ky Downs,’’ the rider posted Monday on X.
I want to thank everyone for all the calls and texts and well wishes, I plan on taking a few days off and return to riding on Thursday at Ky Downs🙏🏻
— Iradortiz (@iradortiz) September 1, 2025
On Sunday, he was knocked off Mindframe after a chain reaction of bumping and jostling just after the start of the Jockey Club Gold Cup. He was carried off the track by medical officials, taken to a hospital and showed up at the track on Monday looking as healthy as can be.
Mindframe, meanwhile, ran loose for a nearly a mile during the race before he was collared by an outrider and appeared to be fine on Monday.
“We got lucky that he’s unscathed. An unlucky race, but lucky that he is OK,’’ Pletcher said.
Pletcher could have three starters in the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) -- JCGC winner Antiquarian, Fierceness and Mindframe.
Mindframe had earlier clinched a spot in the Classic field with his WAYI victory in the Stephen Foster Stakes win at Churchill Downs on June 28.
Diana Stakes (July 12): Excellent Truth
Coaching Club American Oaks (July 19): Scottish Lassie
A.P. Smithwick Memorial (July 23): Historic Heart
Fourstardave Stakes (Aug. 2): Deterministic
Test Stakes (Aug. 2): Kilwin
Saratoga Derby Invitational (Aug. 2): World Beater
Sword Dancer Stakes (Aug. 9): El Cordobes
Alabama Stakes (Aug. 16): Nitrogen
Travers Stakes (Aug. 23): Sovereignty
Ballerina Stakes (Aug. 23): Hope Road
Forego Stakes (Aug. 23): Book’em Danno
Personal Ensign Stakes (Aug. 23): Thorpedo Anna
H. Allen Jerkens Memorial (Aug. 23): Patch Adams
Jonathan Sheppard Handicap (Aug. 27): Jimmy P
Spinaway Stakes (Aug. 30): Tommy Jo
Jockey Club Gold Cup (Aug. 31): Antiquarian
Hopeful Stakes (Sept. 1): Ted Noffey
Richard Rosenblatt is an award-winning journalist and former Associated Press Horse Racing Editor. Currently, he serves as the news editor at US Racing, overseeing exclusive content from contributors worldwide.
