SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — Essential Quality just keeps on winning, displaying a grit that his handlers simply marvel at.
The Belmont Stakes winner added the $1.25 million Travers Stakes to his resume Saturday, holding off Midnight Bourbon in a stirring stretch duel at Saratoga Race Course for his eighth victory in nine career starts for trainer Brad Cox and Godolphin Stable.
“He ran a tremendous race. He was very good today,” Cox said. “He certainly seemed like he had his game face on. He knows how to battle, he really does. He likes to have his head in front. He’s a tremendous horse.”
The 152nd running of the so-called Mid-Summer Derby had a field of seven 3-year-olds, and only Midnight Bourbon, the runner-up in the Preakness, offered a challenge for the reigning 2-year-old champion. The two led the field from the gate, with Midnight Bourbon setting the pace. He was ahead by as much as 3 1/2 lengths down the back stretch before Essential Quality began to close.
Jockey Luis Saez pulled Essential Quality even at the top of the stretch and the two battled side by side to the wire, with Essential Quality winning by a neck over Midnight Bourbon and jockey Ricardo Santana Jr.
“He’s very smart,” said Saez, the leading jockey at Saratoga. “He does his job. He knows how to do it. He always does it.”
The sleek gray son of Tapit covered the 1 1/4 miles in 2 minutes, 1.96 seconds on a track that was labeled as fast despite an intermittent drizzle. He paid $2.90 to win, $2.30 to place, and $2.10 to show. Midnight Bourbon returned $4 and $3.30. Miles D, with jockey Flavien Prat aboard, was third and paid $4.90.
Essential Quality has never had a bad race. His wide trip in the Kentucky Derby in May – he finished fourth – is the only blemish on that sterling record. Just like Saturday, Essential Quality displayed grit in winning the Jim Dandy four weeks ago, storming from behind at the top of the stretch in the five-horse field and holding off Keepmeinmind by a neck in the traditional prep race at Saratoga for the Travers.
“To have a horse in contention for the Derby, it didn’t go out the way we hoped. That’s horse racing. You move on,” said Jimmy Bell, racing manager at Godolphin Stable. “There was really no redemption. Every race he’s always closing. Even though it might be close, it just seems he sort of thrives on that down the lane, more so than we do. He has that innate ability to always finish. He’s always coming. He’s just a joy.”
Cox won one of the most prestigious races for older horses at the Saratoga meeting when Knicks Go won the Grade 1 Whitney earlier this month. He became just the third trainer – and the first since John M. Gaver Sr. in 1942 – to win the Travers and Whitney in the same year with different horses. Gaver won the 1942 Travers with Shut Out and the Whitney with Swing and Sway. James G. Rowe, Jr. was the first, winning the Travers with Twenty Grand and the Whitney with St. Brideaux in 1931.
Essential Quality is the first horse to complete the Jim Dandy-Travers sweep in nearly a decade, since Alpha dead-heated with Golden Ticket in 2012. He’s also the 29th horse to pull off the Belmont-Travers double, the 10th Juvenile champion to win the Travers, and first since Street Sense in 2007.
Nine of the past 13 Travers winners, including the last six in a row, entered the Travers coming off a victory.
The Travers was sixth and final Grade I stakes race Saturday. The others: in the 43rd running of the $500,000 Ballerina for fillies and mares 3 years old and up, heavily favored Gamine, trained by Bob Baffert, won for the ninth time in 10 starts, leading wire-to-wire and easily holding off Lake Avenue by 1 3/4 lengths in a light, steady drizzle; Yaupon edged Firenze Fire by a head to win the 42nd running of the $600,000 Forego for 4-year-olds and up; Jackie’s Warrior edged Life Is Good by a neck to capture the 37th running $500,000 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial for 3-year-olds; Letruska held off Bonny South, Royal Flag and Dunbar Road in a stretch duel to capture the 74th running of the $600,000 Personal Ensign for fillies and mares 4 years old and up; and Gufo outran Japan by a head to win the 47th running of the $750,000 Sword Dancer, a 1.5-mile race on the turf for 4-year-olds and up.
Jesse joined ESPN Chicago in September 2009 and covers MLB for ESPN.com.
The last-place Washington Nationals fired president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo and manager Davey Martinez, the team announced Sunday.
Rizzo, 64, and Martinez, 60, won a World Series with the Nationals in 2019, but the team has floundered in recent years. This season, the Nationals are 37-53 and stuck at the bottom of the National League East after getting swept by the Boston Red Sox this weekend at home. Washington hasn’t finished higher than fourth in the division since winning the World Series.
“On behalf of our family and the Washington Nationals organization, I first and foremost want to thank Mike and Davey for their contributions to our franchise and our city,” principal owner Mark Lerner said in a statement. “Our family is eternally grateful for their years of dedication to the organization, including their roles in bringing a World Series trophy to Washington, D.C.
“While we are appreciative of their past successes, the on-field performance has not been where we or our fans expect it to be. This is a pivotal time for our club, and we believe a fresh approach and new energy is the best course of action for our team moving forward.”
Mike DeBartolo, the club’s senior vice president and assistant general manager, was named interim GM on Sunday night. DeBartolo will oversee all aspects of baseball operations, including the MLB draft. An announcement will be made on the interim manager Monday, a day before the club begins a series against the St. Louis Cardinals.
Rizzo has been the top decision-maker in Washington since 2013, and Martinez has been on board since 2018. Under Rizzo’s leadership, the team made the postseason four times: in 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2019. The latter season was Martinez’s lone playoff appearance.
“When our family assumed control of the team, nearly 20 years ago, Mike was the first hire we made,” Lerner said. “Over two decades, he was with us as we went from a fledging team in a new city to World Series champion. Mike helped make us who we are as an organization, and we’re so thankful to him for his hard work and dedication — not just on the field and in the front office, but in the community as well.”
The Nationals are in the midst of a rebuild that has moved slower than expected, though the team didn’t augment its young core much during the winter. Led by All-Stars James Wood and MacKenzie Gore, Washington has the second-youngest group of hitters in MLB and the sixth-youngest pitching staff.
The team lost 11 straight games in a forgettable stretch last month. And during a 2-10 run in June, Washington averaged just 2.5 runs. Since June 1, the Nationals have scored one run or been shut out seven times. In Sunday’s 6-4 loss to Boston, they left 15 runners on base.
There was industry speculation over the winter that the Nationals would spend money on free agents for the first time in several years, but that never materialized. Instead, the team made minor moves, signing free agents Josh Bell and Michael Soroka, trading for first baseman Nathaniel Lowe and re-signing closer Kyle Finnegan. Now, the hope is a new management team, both on and off the field, can help change the franchise’s fortunes.
The rosters for the 2025 MLB All-Star Game will feature 19 first-timers — and one legend — as the pitchers and reserves were announced Sunday for the July 15 contest at Truist Park in Atlanta.
Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw, a three-time Cy Young Award winner who made his first All-Star team in 2011, was named to his 11th National League roster as a special commissioner’s selection.
Kershaw, who became only the fourth left-hander to amass 3,000 career strikeouts, is 4-0 with a 3.43 ERA in nine starts after beginning the season on the injured list. He joins Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera as a legend choice, after the pair of sluggers were selected in 2022.
Kershaw said he didn’t want to discuss the selection Sunday.
Overall, the 19 first-time All-Stars is a drop from the 32 first-time selections on the initial rosters in 2024.
Kershaw would be the sentimental choice to start for the National League, although Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes, who leads NL pitchers in ERA and WAR, might be in line to start his second straight contest. Philadelphia Phillies right-hander Zack Wheeler, a three-time All-Star, is 9-3 with a 2.17 ERA after Sunday’s complete-game victory and also would be a strong candidate to start.
“I think it would be stupid to say no to that. It’s a pretty cool opportunity,” Skenes said about the possibility of being asked to start by Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “I didn’t make plans over the All-Star break or anything. So, yeah, I’m super stoked.”
Kershaw has made one All-Star start in his career, in 2022 at Dodger Stadium.
Among standout players not selected were New York Mets outfielder Juan Soto, who signed a $765 million contract as a free agent in the offseason, and Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts, who had made eight consecutive All-Star rosters since 2016.
Soto got off to a slow start but was the National League Player of the Month in June and entered Sunday ranked sixth in the NL in WAR among position players while ranking second in OBP, eighth in OPS and third in runs scored.
Earning his fifth career selection but first since 2021 is Texas Rangers righty Jacob deGrom, who is finally healthy after making only nine starts in his first two seasons with the Rangers and is 9-2 with a 2.13 ERA. He has never started an All-Star Game, although Skubal or Brown would be the favorite to start for the AL.
“Red carpet, that’s my thing,” Chisholm said. “I do have a ‘fit in mind.”
Rosters are expanded from 26 to 32 for the All-Star Game. They include starters elected by fans, 17 players (five starting pitchers, three relievers and a backup for each position) chosen in a player vote and six players (four pitchers and two position players) selected by league officials. Every club must be represented.
Acuna, Wood and Raleigh are the three All-Stars who have so far committed to participating in the Home Run Derby.
ESPN baseball reporter. Covered the Washington Wizards from 2014 to 2016 and the Washington Nationals from 2016 to 2018 for The Washington Post before covering the Los Angeles Dodgers and MLB for the Los Angeles Times from 2018 to 2024.
NEW YORK — The New York Yankees were seemingly in deep trouble Sunday when Juan Soto cracked a pitch to left field in the seventh inning.
The New York Mets, down two runs, were cooking up a rally with no outs. Francisco Lindor stood at first base, Pete Alonso loomed on deck, and Brandon Nimmo was in the hole. This was the heart of the Mets’ potent lineup. Given the Yankees’ recent woes, fumbling their two-run lead and suffering a Subway Series sweep at the hands of their neighbors — and a seventh straight loss — seemed almost fated.
Then Cody Bellinger charged Soto’s sinking 105 mph line drive, made a shoestring catch and fired a strike to first base for an improbable double play to secure a skid-snapping 6-4 win — and perhaps rescue the Yankees from another dreadful outcome.
“Considering the context of this week and everything,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said, “that’s probably our play of the year so far.”
Soto’s line drive off Mark Leiter Jr. had a 10% catch probability, according to Statcast, but Bellinger, a plus defender at multiple positions who started at first base Saturday, was just able to snatch it before it touched the grass. Certain that he caught it clean, he made an 89.9 mph toss that reached first baseman Paul Goldschmidt on a line, over Lindor, who didn’t slide into the bag.
“I saw it in the air and had a really good beat on it,” said Bellinger, who went 2-for-3 with a double and a walk at the plate.
The Mets challenged the catch, but the call stood.
“That was incredible,” said Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge, who swatted his 33rd home run of the season in the fifth inning. “I’ve never seen something like that on the field.”
For the past week, a stretch Boone described as “terrible” for his ballclub, poor defense has been an issue for the Yankees. Physical errors. Mental lapses. Near disasters. The sloppiness helped sink a depleted pitching staff, more than offsetting the offense’s strong production.
That combination produced the team’s second six-game losing streak in three weeks and a three-game deficit in the American League East standings behind the first-place Toronto Blue Jays.
The surging Blue Jays won again Sunday to extend their winning streak to seven games and keep their division lead at three games, but Bellinger’s glove and arm ensured it didn’t grow to four.
“That was an unbelievable play,” Goldschmidt said. “Amazing catch and absolute cannon to me at first. To make that play was a game-changing play and potentially game-winning play for us today. And we needed it.”