ITM Telegraph — A Global Win-and-You’re-In Weekend + Sunday Racing

In The Money Telegraph

Sunday, July 26, 2026 · By ITM Staff

Breeders’ Cup tickets got punched on two continents Saturday, a rubber match was settled decisively at the Spa — and one of our own called the hardest race of the day.

Listenupshance Punches His Ticket — and Ryan Called It

The Grade 1 Bing Crosby was billed all week as a genuine tossup, and it played out to the last jump: Listenupshance held on by a nose over a relentless Maximum Bourbon under Emisael Jaramillo for Doug O’Neill, earning a fees-paid berth in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Keeneland on Oct. 31. It confirmed the promise of his big third in Saratoga’s True North last month, and it’s a terrific result for the ownership group Run Fast Racing and Great Friends Stables, whose $100-a-share model has a throng of new fans in the game.

Here’s the part we’ll happily take a bow for: on The Gallop Out, in a race that split the ITM house three ways, Ryan Anderson singled Listenupshance. He nailed it. PTF and Jackson leaned Dr. Venkman and Mikee P. topped Cornucopian — and none of that got there, with Cornucopian eased late and beaten off. That’s racing, and it’s exactly why the crew builds these sequences the way they do. Watch the Gallop Out →

And if you want the ownership side of the story, the timing couldn’t have been better: the Owner’s Box had Run Fast Racing on the show this very weekend.

Across the Pond: a King George Upset

The other “Win and You’re In” of the day, the Grade 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot, didn’t go to script. We’d flagged the returning champion Calandagan as the one to beat, but at 13/2 it was Kalpana who took over late for Colin Keane and Andrew Balding, holding off the even-money favorite by a length and a half, with Benvenuto Cellini third. Kalpana earns her spot in the Breeders’ Cup Turf, and Calandagan — second after leading briefly — will have to find his ticket another way.

At the Spa: the Rubber Match, Settled

Round three went to Counting Stars. After splitting their first two meetings, she and Always A Runner met for the decider in the Coaching Club American Oaks — and it wasn’t close, as Irad Ortiz Jr. sent her from the rail and she drew off by four and a quarter lengths for dual Hall of Famer Mark Casse. She’s now the clear leader of the division. Casse didn’t hold back afterward, saying she reminds him a lot of Nitrogen and does things normal horses don’t do.

One race earlier, the Grade 2 Alfred G. Vanderbilt went to the favorite, Built — the one PTF and JK were both leaning on. A good afternoon to side with the obvious.

Today: the Eddie Read Duel

The weekend isn’t done. Del Mar’s Grade 2 Eddie Read (Race 9) brings the duel we teed up yesterday: defending winner Formidable Man against the evergreen Gold Phoenix, two seaside-oval specialists with five track stakes wins apiece. Dean Keppler makes Formidable Man his best bet — John Velazquez ships in specifically to ride him — with Gold Phoenix and pacesetter Cabo Spirit the ones to beat. Read the card →

Also Today: Sunday at the Shore

Monmouth puts a bow on the weekend with an eight-race card and its annual Italian Festival and Wine Tasting (first post 12:50 p.m. ET). Eric Solomon has it, and his strongest opinion is Jetaros in Race 5, chasing a fourth straight win from just off a speed duel he expects to collapse in his favor. He and Mikee P. walk the late Pick 4 together, and look ahead to the $500 Whitney Day contest on Aug. 8 — Monmouth’s Saratoga-card game, with a 25% on-site cash bonus and NHC and BCBC seats on offer. Read the card →

For a Good Cause

Fitting on a weekend built around Breeders’ Cup berths and the charities they support: tonight brings jockey karaoke for the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund at Belly Up in Solana Beach. And looking ahead, Little Red Feather’s LRF Cares golf tournament goes Monday, Aug. 24 at Lomas Santa Fe.

More all week at inthemoneypodcast.com, with daily previews on the ITM YouTube channel and premium tips on ITM Plus.