NYRA announced Thursday that Rodriguez will make his Triple Crown debut in Saturday’s GI $2 million Belmont Stakes at Saratoga Race Course, following his absence from both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes earlier this season.
The “TDN Rising Star” trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert has fully recovered from the foot issue that kept him sidelined during the first two legs of the Triple Crown.
“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 (Authentic) turned heads earlier this year with a front-running 3½-length victory in the GII Wood Memorial at Aqueduct on April 5. The colt is owned by a partnership that includes SF Racing LLC, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables LLC, Stonestreet Stables LLC, and several other prominent racing entities.
Hall of Famer Mike Smith will ride Rodriguez, who enters the Belmont at 6-1 on the morning line.
Baffert’s strategy for the Belmont appears straightforward. “We know what his style is,” he 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.”
The late entry of Crudo (Justify) could provide early pace competition for Rodriguez. Crudo has won two of his three starts by a combined 14½ lengths, with both victories coming in front-running fashion.
“You always have to be concerned with a Bob Baffert horse,” said Michael McCarthy, trainer of Belmont 8-5 morning-line favorite Journalism (Curlin). “His works, from what I can tell, have been very good.”
Baffert believes Rodriguez will improve with age but acknowledges the challenge ahead. “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 Confident in Undefeated Nitrogen
Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse believes the best 3-year-old grass filly in the country resides in his barn — Nitrogen (Medaglia d’Oro).
The D J Stable LLC-owned filly enters Saturday’s GIII Wonder Again as the even-money morning-line favorite, seeking her fifth consecutive victory this year. The 1 1/16-mile event will be contested on Saratoga’s inner turf course.
“I hope she remains at the top of the heap,” Casse said Wednesday morning on the Saratoga backstretch.
Nitrogen’s success has surprised even her connections. Winless in three starts as a juvenile, she signaled her potential with a third-place finish at 49-1 in the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Del Mar.
This year, she has collected victories at four different tracks, most recently capturing the GII Edgewood Stakes at Churchill Downs on May 2. Jockey Jose Ortiz has been aboard for all four wins.
“She just runs faster than everyone else,” Casse explained. “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.”
While reluctant to make direct comparisons, Casse noted that Nitrogen has accomplished more at three than his Hall of Fame inductee Tepin (Bernstein) did at the same age.
“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 Managing Star-Studded Older Horse Division
Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher continues to strategically manage his trio of outstanding 4-year-olds — Fierceness (City of Light), Mindframe (Constitution), and Locked (Gun Runner) — all designated as “TDN Rising Stars.”
Fierceness will represent the group in Saturday’s $1 million GI Metropolitan Handicap at Saratoga as the even-money morning-line favorite. Owned by Derrick Smith, Repole Stable, Michael Tabor, and Mrs. John Magnier, Fierceness is three-for-three at Saratoga, including last year’s GI Travers.
The colt won his 2025 debut with a 1½-length victory in the GII Alysheba on May 2 at Churchill Downs.
“He has put on weight, and he has gotten stronger,” Pletcher said from his Oklahoma Training Track barn. “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, retains the mount.
Mindframe, who has won both his starts this year including the GI Churchill Downs on Kentucky Derby Day, will return to Louisville for the GI Stephen Foster on June 28.
Locked, winner of the GI Santa Anita Handicap earlier this season, is being pointed toward the GII Suburban Stakes at Saratoga on July 4.
Pletcher indicated that while the stablemates will eventually face each other, those decisions will come after the Suburban. “After (the Suburban), we will see,” he said.
