Watch: Mindframe, Fierceness work Friday morning for Pletcher

Mindframe, the last-out Grade 1 Stephen Foster winner on June 28 at Churchill Downs, completed his first breeze back when covering a half-mile in 52.46 seconds on Friday over the main track at Saratoga.

Trained by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher for Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable, the 4-year-old Constitution dark bay currently leads the National Thoroughbred Racing Association top Thoroughbred poll following wins in the 1 1/8-mile Stephen Foster and the seven-furlong Churchill Downs (G1) on May 3. Mindframe is 3-for-3 this year, also capturing the Gulfstream Park Mile (G2) in March, among his 7: 5-2-0 lifetime record with over $1.8 million in earnings.

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“We were just looking to get an easy half in, he went by himself,” Pletcher said of Friday’s work. “He does whatever you ask him to do. He is cool that way. He goes easy if you want him to go easy, fast if you want him to go fast.”

On Aug. 2 Saratoga hosts the Whitney (G1), a 1 1/8-mile main track-test for older horses, offering a berth to the Breeders’ Cup Classic in November at Del Mar. The question for Pletcher has been whether or not Mindframe could run there alongside Fierceness, who has been reported to be targeting the race for Repole Stable, Derrick Smith, Michael Tabor and Mrs. John Magnier.

“I’ve got to gather up with the connections. We are still a couple weeks away, but he is a fit horse coming out of the Foster win. We don’t have to do a lot with him if we did decide to run in the Whitney,” Pletcher said.

On if he’d like running Mindframe and Fierceness against each other in the Whitney, Pletcher said, “Ideally, no. We’d split them up, so if we decide to wait for the Jockey Club Gold Cup with him (Mindframe), that would be one way of splitting them up.”

The Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1), a 1 1/4-mile race that also offers a bid to the Breeders’ Cup Classic, is run on August 31 at the Spa.

“Fierceness hasn’t run since the Met Mile, so we have always been pointing him towards the Whitney,” Pletcher said. 

Fierceness worked Friday over the main track, covering five furlongs in 1:01.7 in company with Dreamlike.

“He worked terrific today. He is giving us every indication he is on target for it (the Whitney),” said Pletcher. “I’d say if he stays that way, that would probably give us a good reason to wait a little longer on Mindframe and give him a little extra time off a huge effort shipping to Churchill.”

Fierceness, the multiple Grade 1-winning 4-year-old City of Light colt and the 2023 champion 2-year-old male, last ran second in the one-mile Metropolitan Handicap (G1) here after a track-record setting win in the 1 1/16-mile Alysheba (G2) on May 2 at Churchill Downs.

“I thought he worked terrific, like he always does, he finished up nicely and put in a huge gallop out, moving great, doing everything you’d like to see,” Pletcher said.

Fierceness has earned in excess of $4.5 million through an 11: 6-2-1 record, including a head score over subsequent horse of the year Thorpedo Anna in the Travers (G1) in August at Saratoga.