America’s Pastime Stables was formed by people in the baseball industry that also have a passion for horse racing. About 25 miles west of the Saratoga Race Course is Amsterdam, New York. During the months of June and July you will find the Amsterdam Mohawks playing there as the team is run by team president and America’s Pastime Stables managing partner Brian Spagnola. The Mohawks have called Amsterdam home for nearly 25 years, and there you will also find Keith Griffin, Megan Anagnostopulos and Jon Sargalis who are all affiliated with APS working for the team. The team is comprised of college baseball players from all over the country and it has become a summer destination for highly toughed baseball players as 21 have reached the majors and 3 were drafted in the first round over the past 5 years.
Gary Henderson is one of the college baseball coaches who sends his players to Amsterdam and has been at high level programs such as Kentucky, Mississippi State and now Utah where the team will soon be playing its home games at the newly constructed Charlie Monfort Field beginning in 2026.
Going back a year, Spagnola received a call from Henderson in 2024 asking for a silent auction item for the team’s fundraiser dinner. Not that anyone was expecting someone in Utah to bid on it, a VIP Day at the Saratoga Race Course was offered in the off chance someone would be interested. The next day, Spagnola received the call that someone was interested; Charlie Monfort, owner of the Colorado Rockies.
Monfort had a growing interest in horse racing and spent a day in Saratoga with us in 2024. Smokin’ Hot Kitty got us into the Winner’s Circle that day and Monfort even presented a trophy to the winner of a following race.
Following that experience, Monfort wanted to get in the game and get a horse from the start. Partnering with us and Jeff Bloom, we found a horse at the Ocala Breeders’ Spring Sale of Two-Year Olds in Training and found a two-year old Girvin colt out of Toni Ann’s Miracle by Hear No Evil.
The horse was named Rockies Balboa and giving to Eclipse Award winning trainer Dale Romans in Churchill Downs and then shipped to Saratoga.
Rockies Balboa made his debut in Monday’s first race on closing day at Saratoga and ran fifth in a 6-furlong Maiden Special Weight. Jockey Junior Alvarado, who was sporting the new Colorado Rockies inspired Monfort silks said once he gave him a break to catch his breath he reengaged and was impressed by his first effort. Trainer Dale Romans said this was a good experience for him and hopefully he’ll learn how to be a racehorse now.
With the Saratoga meet ending Rockies Balboa will ship over to Churchill Downs and continue training there.
If you spend enough time at Saratoga, you’ll know the summertime weather can become unpredictable. There was no better example of that then what happened on Thursday. The morning and early afternoon were off to a perfect start. The Ninth Race, a Starter Optional Claimer that was scheduled for mile and a sixteenth on the turf was thought to go off without issue, so all the Main-Track Only entries, including the other half of our entry, Hero’s Medal, were scratched. Then immediately following the third race, a storm popped up out of nowhere and brought a solid downpour for 15 minutes. The sun returned well before the start of the fourth race, but the rainfall was enough to take the remaining turf races off the grass. Having run on off-tracks before, Brit’s Wit would stay in the field. Heading into the paddock, it was a four-horse race, and following a late scratch, only 3 horses went onto the track to run a mile in the slop. The three horses stayed pretty even on the backstretch. Midway through the far turn, favorite Final Denile made a move for the lead with Brit’s Wit trailing on the inside. Going into the stretch, jockey Joel Rosario hit the brakes on the inside run and sliced through the middle of Final Denile and Hedge the Risk to make an outside run on Final Denile and took the lead at the furlong pole to win by a length in 1:39.67. It was our second win at Saratoga this summer, third win with Brit’s Wit, second win with jockey Joe Rosario this year and second win with trainer Mike Maker this year. It was the 10th win with trainer Mike Maker as he becomes the fifth trainer to reach double digit wins for us, joining Mertkan and Ilkay Kantarmaci, John Kimmel and Rob Falcone, Jr.
It’s been quite the week for jockey Luis Saez. First, he got the win aboard Sassy Princess at Saratoga on Wednesday, then just 3 days later, he picked up another win for us at Monmouth Park on Saturday in the 4th Race on Haskell Day down in New Jersey. This time it was Mr. Papagiorgio who we own in partnership with Michael Dubb that he led to victory. It was a mile, seventy yards on the dirt in an Allowance Optional Claimer and Luis wasted no time vying for the early lead and became the pace setter. It came down to a thrilling finish as Mr. Papagiorgio held off an oncoming Valentinain and Irad Ortiz, Jr. in a photo finish for the win in 1:42.12. It was the fourth win with Luis Saez this year as he becomes our leading jockey for the year and it was his tenth overall, becoming the fourth jockey to reach double digits in victories for us. Saez was aboard Analyze the Odds back in 2019 for our first ever win and he joins Silvestre Gonzalez, Kendrick Carmouche and Manny Franco on the list of double-digit victors. It was our first win at Monmouth this year, and fifth overall as it becomes the 8th track we’ve recorded a win at this year. It was also the second win with trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. this year.
Sassy Princess scored a victory in Wednesday’s 6th Race at Saratoga for America’s Pastime Stables’ first Saratoga win in 2025 and the sixth consecutive year of reaching the Winner’s Circle at the Spa. Jockey Luis Saez sat off the pace but gained ground heading into the second turn and used the three path to gain momentum into the stretch and take the lead at the three-sixteenths pole and held onto the lead in the final furlong for the victory. The final time on the one and one sixteenth mile race on the inner turf was 1:42.46. It was the third win with jockey Luis Saez this year and our second win with Sassy Princess and trainer Brendan Walsh along with partner Jeff Bloom. Sassy Princess was claimed following the race by trainer Amelia Green and we wish her luck with her new connections going forward.
Unlimitedpotential made his 3rd trip to the Winner’s Circle for us on Thursday at Aqueduct as it marked the 150th win for America’s Pastime Stables. The cutback in distance wasn’t a problem as the 6-year-old Union Rags colt handled the 6 furlongs with ease. Sitting just off the pace in 4th, Silvestre Gonzalez took the lead at the top of the stretch and battled with the favorite before digging in during the final three-sixteenths to take a 3 1/2 length victory in 1:09.51. 6 furlongs is the shortest Unlimitedpotential has ever gone, but the 99 Equibase figure tied the second highest mark of his career. In 4 starts this year, Unlimitedpotential has 2 wins and 1 second and 5 wins in 14 career starts.
With our 150th win, it was fitting that our winningest jockey, Silvestre Gonzalez, was aboard as he collected his 28th win for us. Trainer Ilkay Kantarmaci won his 3rd race of the year for us and his 18th overall as the listed trainer, combined with his brother, Mertkan, the Kantarmaci brothers have recorded a total of 71 victories for us. It was also our 4th win at Aqueduct and 54th overall as we have recorded over twice as many wins at the Big A than any other track.
