Counting Stars KO's Always a Runner in Heavyweight Rematch of Top

Counting Stars KO's Always a Runner in Heavyweight Rematch of Top

In the week leading up to the $500,000 Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks July 25 at Saratoga Race Course, the race was billed it as a heavyweight rematch between the year's two top 3-year-old fillies -- Grade 1 Longines Kentucky Oaks winner Read More...

FROM OFF THE PACE: Always a Runner, Counting Stars meet again

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — With the annual thoroughbred foal crop less than a third of what it was in the mid-1980s, it is not surprising that many G1 stakes are drawing smaller and less accomplished fields than they once did. The three-year-old filly division is among the hardest hit. The dozen G1s that were in place in the early 2000s have dwindled to eight, with the Mother Goose, Gazelle, Santa Anita Oaks and Las Virgenes all downgraded to G2, …

Counting Stars outfights Always a Runner in CCA Oaks

Counting Stars broke on top from the rail, shrugged off a stretch challenge from Kentucky Oaks winner Always a Runner and drew clear to a 4 1/4-length win Saturday in the Grade 1, $500,000 Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga. Irad Ortiz Jr. rode the gate-to-wire victory for trainer Mark Casse and owner West Point Thoroughbreds in the 1 1/8-mile second leg of the Triple Tiara. The odds-on favorite took a 2-1 edge in the pair's three meetings …

Round Three: Always a Runner and Counting Stars Meet Again in CCA Oaks

The leader of the 3-year-old filly division will emerge from Saturday's GI Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga. After beginning her career with three straight wins led by a powerful, come-from-behind victory in the GI Kentucky Oaks, 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' Always a Runner (Gun Runner) looks to get back on track following a runner-up finish behind Counting Stars (Honor A. P.) as the 4-5 favorite in the GI DraftKings Acorn S. a…