Bottas Spins Magical Tale in Hall of Fame Stakes

The stars aligned perfectly for an extraordinary running of the Aug. 7 National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame Stakes (G2T) at Saratoga Race Course. The winner Bottas is trained by Miguel Clement, the son of the late trainer Christophe Clement, who only hours earlier was inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame at the nearby Humphrey S. Finney Sales Pavilion. READ: Racing Hall of Fame 2026 Class Celebrated, Remembered Adding another layer of magic to Bottas' victory in the 1-mile inner turf race was that he was ridden by Manny Franco, who notched his sixth win on the card to tie a single-day record at Saratoga. The record is also held by Irad Ortiz. Jr., who achieved it July 25, and by Hall of Famers John Velazquez and the retired Ramon Dominguez. Earlier on the card, Franco swept five consecutive races. Miguel Clement said after winning the Hall of Fame for the first time in his young training career, "There's three very important races for us at this Saratoga meet, and this is one of the three. The other one is the Fourstardave (Aug. 8), which is very meaningful for us and Deterministic (last year's winner and one of Saturday's entrants). And the next one is the (Aug. 15) Christophe Clement (Stakes) for obvious reasons. Those are the three races I really want to win this meet." The elder Clement won the 2020 Hall of Fame with Decorated Invader. Owned by Qatari businessman Abdulhadi Mana Al-Hajri, who races under the stable name Dahman, Bottas unleashed a wicked turn of foot to post a 1 1/2-length victory in the $400,000 stakes. Finishing second was Blinging It Back in the seven-horse field of 3-year-olds. A neck back in third was favorite Touch of Fire. The winner returned $9.24 as the second choice and covered the distance over a firm course in 1:34.67. He came home the final furlong in :11.64. The victory brought Bottas' record to 3-0-1 in six starts with earnings of $461,000. Representing Al-Hajri at Saratoga Friday was Case Clay, who signed the slip on the Vekoma colt when he was purchased for $300,000 at the 2025 Ocala Breeders' Sales Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training. Bottas is out of the Lemon Drop Kid mare Iadorakid. "What a great broodmare sire. You've got the speed on top of the classic distance," Clay said. "Dahman is pretty much focusing on turf races here in America. We purchased Bottas to run on the grass." The bloodstock agent, who owns Case Clay Thoroughbred Management, added that Bottas' second graded stakes victory in the Hall of Fame—his first came in last year's Pilgrim Stakes (G2T)—held extra meaning. "It's very special to win—today of all days—the Hall of Fame when Christophe got inducted. He was a very special man, and such a special family, all of them, including Nicolas (Christophe's brother in France)." An elated Franco said of his six wins, "I'm in the sky right now. It's unbelievable, doing it right here in Saratoga, it means more. It means a lot. I'm just happy to get these opportunities." Saratoga scripts many magical days, and this certainly was one of them.