Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher to saddle solid trio for G3 With Anticipation

By Keith McCalmont —-

Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher to saddle solid trio for G3 With Anticipation

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher will hold a strong hand with High Official, Liam’s Law and Bold Leadership in Saturday’s Grade 3, $225,000 With Anticipation, a 1 1/16-mile inner turf route for 2-year-olds, at Saratoga Race Course.

The With Anticipation is surely a race Pletcher looks forward to each summer here as he looks for a record-extending eighth win in just the 22nd running. His past victors include Bittel Road [2008], Interactif [2009], Bashart [2013], Azar [2015], Made You Look [2016], Opry [2018] and Final Score [2025].

Lawana and Robert Low’s promising Kentucky homebred High Official will make his stakes debut from a visually appealing first-out graduation on July 26 here where he settled in fifth position under returning rider Flavien Prat before rallying five-wide to score by a widening two lengths. High Official stopped the clock in 1:43.66 for 1 1/16-miles over the firm inner turf and earned a 70 Beyer Speed Figure.

“He had trained like he would make a good showing first time, but I thought that was a particularly strong effort,” Pletcher said. “He’s a very talented colt and it’s very exciting to have a homebred for the Lows showing this kind of ability. We’re excited about him.”

High Official [post 3, Flavien Prat] is out of the multiple graded stakes-winning American Pharoah mare Sweet Melania, who was campaigned by these same connections. The talented colt is by Not This Time, the sire of the Pletcher-trained multiple Grade 1-winner Up to the Mark, who earned Eclipse Award honors as 2023 Champion Turf Male.

High Official has worked back three times over the Spa main track, including a half-mile in 49.77 seconds August 29.

“He’s been breezing solid and steadily. We’re happy with him,” Pletcher said.

The Lows will also be represented by second-out maiden winner Liam’s Law [post 2, Ricardo Santana, Jr.], a $120,000 purchase from the OBS March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training where he worked in 21.2.

The Colonel Liam bay, out of the winning Kitten’s Joy mare Quickasakitten, debuted with a distant fourth in an off-the-turf maiden sprint contested over sloppy and sealed footing on May 24 at Belmont at the Big A.

He stretched out to 1 1/16-miles on July 12 here and led all the way over the firm footing to score by 1 1/4-lengths over And the Runner Is, who exited that event to run a head second here August 23 over the same course and distance. Liam’s Law earned a 67 Beyer for his victory, stopping the clock in a final time of 1:42.74.

“That definitely did the trick,” Pletcher said of the stretch out and surface switch. “We knew that going in. The first race came off the turf and we went ahead and ran him for the experience, and it set him up nicely.”

Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable’s Bold Leadership [post 4, Manny Franco] is a maiden on paper only, overcoming the outermost post 9 and a wide trip to miss by the narrowest of margins to the ground saving Oscar in his August 8 debut here traveling 1 1/16-miles over firm turf. The final time of 1:43.37 returned a 70 Beyer.

Pletcher said it was essentially a winning effort and that a good result Saturday could propel Bold Leadership – and his other entrants – to potential starts in the Grade 2, $250,000 Pilgrim on October 3 at Belmont Park or the Grade 2 Bourbon one day later at Keeneland. Both the Pilgrim and Bourbon offer “Win and You’re In” berths to the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf in October at Keeneland.

“We’re treating it like a win and believe he is good enough to be competitive in this race,” Pletcher said. “We’ll give him a chance to get in the Breeders’ Cup picture if he were to run well here and set him up for the Pilgrim or the Bourbon.”

Pletcher noted the continued success of Not This Time, who leads all sires in 2026 by earnings, percentage of stakes winners, percentage of graded stakes winners, percentage of graded stakes performers, and black type horses.

“He’s an exceptional sire – turf, dirt, short, long – he does it all,” Pletcher said.

Bold Leadership is out of the Candy Ride mare Sweetened, a full-sister to Grade 2-winner and first-year New York stallion Confidence Game. His third dam, Vertigineux, produced Hall of Famer Zenyatta and multiple Grade 1-winning millionaire Balance.

Barry Schwartz’s New York homebred Howard’s Hope [post 1, Jose Lezcano] arrives from a rallying debut maiden score versus fellow state-breds in a 1 1/16-mile turf route on August 6 here.

Trained by Horacio De Paz, the Karakontie gelding, with Manny Franco up, rallied from 8th-of-11 and 8 1/4-lengths off the pace to score by one length in a final time of 1:44.87 over the firm inner turf. The winning effort earned a 59 Beyer.

Howard’s Hope is out of the winning English Channel mare Blue Atlas, a half-sister to stakes-winner Iron Mizz. His second dam is turf stakes-winner Iron Goddess.

Also entered is Perfect Dream [post 5, Chantal Sutherland], a second-out maiden winner when trying turf for the first time on August 15 at Monmouth Park for trainer Jorge Delgado.



The With Anticipation is slated as Race 2 on Saturday’s 12-race card, which is headlined by the Grade 1, $300,000 Spinaway in Race 11. The Spinaway offers a “Win and You’re In” berth to the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies in October at Keeneland. First post is 12:05 p.m. Eastern.

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Cover Photo providedby NYRA