By B. Jason Brooks
Returning from a 66-day layoff, graded stakes-placed Pentathlon will get some class relief in an allowance optional claimer going seven furlongs on Wednesday, September 2nd at Saratoga Race Course.
Coming off of three stakes races – including a win in the Army Mule Stakes in March and a graded stakes placing in the Westchester Stakes (G3) in May – the 5-year-old horse will have jockey Samuel D Marín aboard for Hall of Fame trainer Claude R. “Shug” McGaughey.
Entered in Race 2 on the final Wednesday card of the 2026 Saratoga meet, Pentathlon drew post № 5 in a field of six. Post time is 1:48 p.m. Eastern.
Pentathlon opened his campaign this year with back-to-back victories, beginning with an impressive allowance optional claiming score at Tampa Bay Downs on February 15th. Settling off the pace, he responded to urging on the far turn before drawing away in the stretch to win by five lengths.
The Phipps homebred stepped back into stakes company on March 28th in Gulfstream Park’s $175,000 Army Mule Stakes and delivered one of the best performances of his career. After settling along the rail up the backstretch, Pentathlon began advancing on the far turn before swinging five wide into the stretch and producing a sustained rally to win by a half-length. The seven-furlong victory was Pentathlon’s first stakes win.
He stepped back up to graded company in the one-mile Westchester Stakes (G3) at Aqueduct on May 3rd, earning his first graded stakes placing behind 2025 Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) winner Antiquarian (Preservationist) and multiple graded stakes-winning multimillionaire Bishop’s Bay (Uncle Mo).
Following his graded stakes placing, Pentathlon was cut back to six furlongs for the Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash Stakes on June 27th at Laurel Park. Breaking slowly from the gate, he rated early and came under urging while saving ground past the five-sixteenths pole, but didn’t have enough left in the tank to mount a challenge in the stretch.
Wednesday marks a return to the site of Pentathlon’s maiden victory. The son of Speightstown earned his first career victory at Saratoga on August 15, 2024, rating just off the pace before taking command late and drawing clear by three and a half lengths.
A sixth-generation Phipps-bred, Pentathlon is owned by Phipps Stable in partnership with St. Elias Stable and Woodford Racing. He is the second foal out of the graded stakes-placed Tapit mare Parade, who finished runner-up in the 2017 Comely Stakes (G3).
Hailing from one of the most distinguished Phipps female families, Pentathlon counts Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner and multiple grade 1 winner My Flag (Easy Goer) as his third dam and undefeated Hall of Famer Personal Ensign (Private Account) is his fourth dam.
B. Jason Brooks is a Thoroughbred racing and pedigree researcher, writer, and social media manager residing in Saratoga Springs, New York. He can be followed on X at @bjbrooksNY.
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