SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.–The sting of missing the GI Kentucky Derby has faded. Ditto for the GI Preakness Stakes.
Rodriguez (Authentic) is well rested, healthy and a ready to roll 'TDN Rising Star.' The colt, trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, will make his Triple Crown debut in Saturday's GI $2 million Belmont Stakes at Saratoga Race Course.
Owned by SF Racing LLC, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables LLC, Stonestreet Stables LLC, Dianne Bashor, Determined Stables, Robert Masterson, Tom Ryan, Waves Edge Capital LLC and Catherine Donovan, Rodriguez turned heads earlier this year when he rolled to a front-running 3 1/2-length win the GII Wood Memorial at Aqueduct Apr. 5.
Baffert had to scratch Rodriguez from the Kentucky Derby due to a foot issue; that kept him out of the Preakness, too.
Rodriguez, who will be ridden by Hall of Famer Mike Smith, is 6-1 on the Belmont morning line.
“It was unfortunate we could not make the Derby,” Baffert said on the Saratoga backstretch Wednesday morning. “We tried to make the Preakness, and we just needed some extra time. We took him back home and felt if we could get him going good and get him back to where he was … his last works were good enough to bring him up here.”
Rodriguez looks sharp | Sarah Andrew
The Belmont strategy for Rodriguez is simple enough. Let the big horse roll.
“We know what his style is,” Baffert said. “He needs to be out there running. We tried rating him and he just doesn't like it; he wants no part of it. We will just let him do his thing. If he does it, he does it.”
Other trainers in the Belmont are well aware of Rodriguez's ability on the front end. It was some comfort to them when Crudo (Justify) was entered at the last minute. He has two wins in three starts (by a combined 14 1/2 lengths) and both of them came on the lead. He could keep Rodriguez company.
“You always have to be concerned with a Bob Baffert horse,” said Michael McCarthy, the trainer of Belmont 8-5 morning-line favorite Journalism (Curlin). “His works, from what I can tell, have been very good.”
Baffert said Rodriguez is a horse he thinks will get better as he gets older. Whether he is ready to jump up and be a major player in the Belmont remains to be seen.
“This is a good crop of 3-year-olds,” he said. “We just don't know how he is going to stack up. He won the Wood, but this is a different kind of field of horses. He is running against the best.”
Casse Hoping Nitrogen Still Has The Gas
Ask Mark Casse who the best 3-year-old grass filly in the land is and he'll point to his barn.
Of course, he'll tell you, that is Nitrogen (Medaglia d'Oro).
She has won all four of her starts this year–three of them graded stakes–and will shoot for No. 5 on Saturday. Nitrogen is the even-money morning-line favorite in the GIII Wonder Again, a 1 1/16-mile event on the inner turf course.
“I hope she remains at the top of the heap,” Casse said outside his barn on the Saratoga backstretch Wednesday morning.
Nitrogen turf move | Sarah Andrew
Casse admits the success of the filly, owned by D J Stable LLC, came as a surprise.
When she was two, Nitrogen was winless in three starts but the light came on in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Del Mar when she was third at 49-1.
She has won at four different race tracks this year, the latest win coming in the GII Edgewood Stakes at 1 1/16 miles at Churchill Downs May 2. Jockey Jose Ortiz has been aboard for all four wins.
“She just runs faster than everyone else,” Casse said. “She is quiet and will shut off and you can place her wherever you want. If the pace is fast, she will be up close. If it isn't–if she needs to–she will sit off.”
Casse has trained some good fillies during his Hall of Fame career, the best being Tepin (Bernstein), who was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 2022 after winning 13 of 23 career starts.
Casse was not about to compare the two horses but did offer this:
“At this point of her career, she is much better than Tepin was,” Casse said. “Tepin did not really take off until she was four. She struggled at three and excelled at four. This one has done a lot more at three than Tepin ever did. Excited? How can you not be excited?”
Pletcher Will Keep His Big Horses Separated As Long As He Can
Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher has three of the best older horses in training in 4-year-olds Fierceness (City of Light), Mindframe (Constitution) and Locked (Gun Runner)–all are 'TDN Rising Stars.' His job is to keep them away from each other for as long as he can.
So far, so good.
Fierceness up close | Sarah Andrew
Fierceness will represent the Big Three on Saturday in the $1 million GI Metropolitan Handicap at Saratoga. He is the even-money morning-line favorite.
Mindframe has won both his starts this year, the last being the GI Churchill Downs on Kentucky Derby Day. He will head back to Louisville June 28 for the GI Stephen Foster.
Locked, winner of the GI Santa Anita Handicap earlier this year, is being pointed to the GII Suburban Stakes at Saratoga on the Fourth of July.
Eventually, the stablemates will meet, but the longer Pletcher can keep them apart, the better.
“After (the Suburban), we will see,” Pletcher said outside his barn on the Oklahoma Training Track.
Fierceness won his 2025 debut with a 1 1/2-length win in the GII Alysheba May 2 at Churchill. Owned by Derrick Smith, Repole Stable. Michael Tabor and Mrs. John Magnier, Fierceness is three-for-three at Saratoga, his biggest win being last year's GI Travers.
“He has put on weight, and he has gotten stronger,” Pletcher said. “He has always been a laid-back horse to train. He is kind of unassuming until you breeze him. When you breeze him, he will go as good as you want him to go. On his daily gallops he is more laid back.”
Hall of Famer John Velazquez, who has ridden Fierceness in his last eight starts, will ride.
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