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Though he runs multiple horses in graded stakes quite frequently, owner Sol Kumin said it will be a little different Sunday when Monomoy Girl and Midnight Bisou square off in the Grade 1, $300,000 Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga.

Kumin owns a 50 percent interest in Monomoy Girl, a filly he purchased with Mike Dubb as a yearling and who has gone on to win seven of eight starts, including the Kentucky Oaks. Kumin also purchased a 25 percent interest in Midnight Bisou following her third-place finish in the Kentucky Oaks. In her first start with Kumin on board, Midnight Bisou rolled to a six-length victory in the Grade 2 Mother Goose.

“If you own the majority of two and there’s two good races, of course you’d rather keep them apart,” Kumin said by phone Thursday. “This race came up to be the one where both these trainers felt like it made the most sense, and they’re going to run against each other.”

Monomoy Girl, trained by Brad Cox, is the leader of the 3-year-old filly division, with Grade 1 victories this year in the Acorn at Belmont, Ashland at Keeneland, and Kentucky Oaks at Churchill, along with a win in the Grade 2 Rachel Alexandra at Fair Grounds. Midnight Bisou won three graded stakes when based in Southern California with Bill Spawr, including the Grade 1 Santa Anita Oaks. Midnight Bisou was transferred to Steve Asmussen following the Kentucky Oaks, and he prepared her for the Mother Goose.

“I don’t want to say it’s uncomfortable because it’s part of racing, but it’s going to be hard,” Kumin said. “I’m probably going to sit by myself with my kids and try not to be around anyone.

“It doesn’t happen that often when you’re in a spot where you feel a little weird, but it happens. Two weekends ago, for the Belmont Derby and Belmont Oaks, I had four in the Oaks and three in the derby with seven different trainers.”

Kumin is a co-owner of Catholic Boy, who won the Belmont Derby, but said he felt bad for his partners in My Boy Jack, who ran next to last.

Kumin ranks Monomoy Girl as the second-most-special horse he has owned, behind only Lady Eli, the champion female turf horse of 2017, who battled back from a life-threatening disease to return to Grade 1 glory.

“Monomoy Girl is probably my favorite horse in the stable right now,” Kumin said. “Bought her as a baby, Brad Cox’s first Grade 1 win, first horse [bloodstock agent Liz Crow] ever signed a ticket for, and Oaks winner.”

Kumin believes that a victory by Monomoy Girl on Sunday could virtually cement an Eclipse Award for her. A victory by Midnight Bisou opens the door for a competition the remainder of the year.

“If Bisou wins, I still think Monomoy Girl is probably in the driver’s seat,” Kumin said. “But if Bisou goes ahead and wins and wins the Alabama, it’s a different picture, probably.”

Monomoy Girl is not pointing to the Alabama. Her schedule will include the Grade 1 Cotillion at Parx on Sept. 22 and the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Churchill on Nov. 3.

Midnight Bisou is pointing to the Alabama here on Aug. 18, and then it remains to be seen where or if she would start before the Breeders’ Cup.

A field of five was entered Thursday for the Coaching Club American Oaks. Joining Monomoy Girl and Midnight Bisou in the starting gate will be Eskimo Kisses, second to Monomoy Girl in the Ashland; Chocolate Martini, who beat Eskimo Kisses in the Grade 2 Fair Grounds Oaks; and Gio Game, third in the Acorn.

This story originally appeared on DRF.com.

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While the racing industry struggles with ways to attract a younger fan base, there is a youth movement of sorts happening on the backstretch. A handful of 30-something trainers will be plying their trade at Saratoga for the first time this summer when the 40-day meet begins Friday.

The names are recognizable—Jonathan Thomas, Norm Casse, Cherie DeVaux, and Rodolphe Brisset. Until recently, though, they were behind-the-scenes players. Now, the spotlight will be on them during arguably the best race meet in North America.

Thomas, a former assistant to Todd Pletcher and Christophe Clement, has been training on his own for two years. Last summer here, he won the Grade 3 With Anticipation Stakes with Catholic Boy, who continues to be the star of the stable with wins in the Grade 2 Remsen last fall at Aqueduct and, most recently, the Grade 1 Belmont Derby on July 7. Catholic Boy will be strongly considered for the Grade 1 Travers on Aug. 25, with the Grade 3 Saranac on Sept. 1 as an alternative.

Thomas, who turned 38 last Saturday, worked at Bridlewood Farm where he developed young horses and helped prepare others to return from layoffs. He has brought 28 horses to Saratoga this summer, and while naturally he hopes to win some races, he is trying to establish a presence in New York on a year-round basis.

“I’m using Saratoga as a platform for Belmont,” Thomas said one recent morning on the Belmont backstretch. “As much as I like Saratoga, there’s still a lot of good racing here.”

Thomas went 7 for 14 at the Belmont spring meet. He plans to get started here on opening day with the 3-year-old first-time starter Eagle Pass in a maiden $75,000 claiming race on turf. Tillie’s Lily, undefeated in four starts, is scheduled to run in Monday’s $200,000 Caress Stakes for fillies and mares at 5 1/2 furlongs.

Kundray, whom Thomas brought back off a 21-month layoff to win a New York-bred second-level allowance, will likely be headed to an open-company allowance.

Osare, a half-sister to Arrogate, won a 1 1/4-mile turf maiden race at Belmont but could try the dirt in Saratoga.

Among the 2-year-olds Thomas is looking forward to getting started at the meet are Till Then, who is a Point of Entry colt, and Solar, a son of Flatter. Entirely, a 2-year-old filly, is pointing to the Bolton Landing on Aug. 15 after winning her debut on turf and finishing fourth in the My Dear Stakes over Woodbine’s synthetic surface.

The cleverly named Hot N Sour, a daughter of Tapit out of the Grade 1-winning mare Eggdrop, is likely a two-turn turf filly.

Norm Casse, who spent a decade as an assistant to his father, Mark, went out on his own earlier this year and has won six races from 24 starters.

Casse, 34, has eight horses in Saratoga, including Fightress, a 2-year-old daughter of Tapizar. Fightress won her debut by 4 3/4 lengths at Churchill and is running in Friday’s opening-day Schuylerville. Casse also has the New York-bred 2-year-old Tales of Chaucer, who was scheduled to run in last weekend’s Rockville Centre Stakes before sustaining a foot bruise. He could be pointed to the Funny Cide Stakes on Aug. 24.

Casse has brought a pair of 2-year-olds – Hard Legacy, a daughter of Hard Spun, and Mischievous Bird, a son of Into Mischief – to run at the meet for Saratoga socialite Marylou Whitney.

“It’s our first year,” Casse said. “We’re excited. We think the horses we sent fit and are going to run well.”

Casse added that this meet “is not going to be the focal point of our year.”

Casse said he hoped to be active at the claim box as well.

A former assistant to and exercise rider for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, Brisset went out on his own in spring 2017. After winning six races from 70 starters last year, he has won 15 races from 78 starters so far this year, including last weekend’s Grade 3 Indiana Oaks with Talk Veuve to Me.

Talk to Veuve to Me is one of eight horses Brisset has brought to Saratoga. She will be considered for the Alabama, pending how she trains over the main track, Brisset said.

Among the more interesting horses Brisset has here is Positive Spirit, a 2-year-old filly who is a three-quarter sister to 2017 Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming. She also is a half-sister to 2009 Grade 1 Spinaway winner Hot Dixie Chick.

“We like her, but she’s not a sprinter,” Brisset said.

Wheedle, by Flat Out, is a half-sister to Ultimateenticement, a maiden winner on dirt at Saratoga last year, and to Party Boat, who was twice stakes placed on turf last summer at Saratoga. Sweet Carolina, a daughter of Candy Ride, is a horse Brisset wants to run around two turns on turf.

Like Thomas, Brisset said he hopes to use this Saratoga meet as a way to get onto the NYRA circuit on a more consistent basis.

DeVaux went out on her own in April after eight years as an assistant to trainer Chad Brown. She started just four horses at the Belmont meet, but plans to be more active at Saratoga as she has brought 14 horses here.

Dark Energy, who ran fourth in his first start for DeVaux, is entered in Friday’s finale, a $40,000 claimer on the turf. Conscripted, a 4-year-old Biondetti colt, was purchased out of the Fasig-Tipton July sale and has all of his conditions left. Miss Vinegar, a 3-year-old filly, and the 2-year-old maiden Savino, a half-brother to 2009 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner She Be Wild, are others DeVaux plans to run here.

“Of course I want to win,” said DeVaux, 36. “Some we want to develop, and some we want to spot where they’re competitive.”

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Manny Ycaza, the Hall of Fame jockey widely credited with paving the way for Latin American riders in North America, died Monday in New York at age 80.

Ycaza’s wife, Jeanne, said her husband died of pneumonia and sepsis in a local hospital after being transported there Sunday evening when he suddenly took ill.

“He died peacefully, surrounded by his family,” she said.

Among the major races won by Ycaza were the 1964 Belmont Stakes on Quadrangle; four runnings of the Kentucky Oaks; the first triple crown for fillies with Dark Mirage in 1968; and back-to-back runnings of the Washington D.C. International in 1959-60. He rode such immortals as Dr. Fager and Damascus, and in 1977 he became the first Latino rider inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. He also won the prestigious George Woolf Memorial Award in 1964.

Born Carlos Manuel de Ycaza in Panama in 1938, Ycaza was the son of a bus driver who began riding at an early age. He had a brief riding stint in Mexico, and immigrated in 1956 to the United States. His talent was quickly established as he began winning major stakes across the U.S., and before long, other great jockeys followed Ycaza from Panama and other Latin American countries. His fellow Panamanians include Braulio Baeza, Laffit Pincay Jr., Jorge Velasquez, Jacinto Vasquez, Alex Solis, and Rene Douglas.

A February 1962 story by Bill Leggett in Sports Illustrated entitled “The Latin Invasion” documented the trend initiated by Ycaza, whose legacy lives on today with the plethora of top Latino jockeys in action at North American tracks. A sub-headline for that story reads: “The big news of the horse racing season is that Spanish-speaking jockeys dominate the scene, and their takeover may be permanent.”

Ycaza “was as good as anyone who rode in this country,” Vasquez, a fellow Hall of Famer, said Tuesday from Ocala, Fla. “He had everything. He could go to the lead, come from behind. He was a competitor. He had a lot of guts.”

In competition, Ycaza was known for a cross demeanor and for being hot-headed and sometimes overly aggressive. Perhaps that behavior was best typified by his actions during narrow defeats aboard Ridan in the 1962 Preakness and Travers. One of the most famous photos in racing history, by Joe DePaola of the Baltimore Sun, depicts Ycaza, on Ridan, sparring with John Rotz, on the victorious Greek Money, in the stretch run of the Preakness.

His aggression led to numerous suspensions by racing stewards, but the top owners and trainers sought him out nonetheless, with Harry Guggenheim and E.P. Taylor being among the prominent owners for whom Ycaza frequently rode.

“He got in a lot of trouble, but he really didn’t mean to,” said Vasquez. “He used to ride very powerful horses, and when he turned for home he used to make the hole, even if there wasn’t one. But he really was a nice guy. He didn’t mean to hurt anybody.”

Ycaza’s top mounts included many of the superstar horses of his era, and he was a perennial leading jockey on the biggest East Coast circuits. He topped the standings at Saratoga four times, breaking a 38-year-old record in 1959 by riding 41 winners.

Often plagued by injury, Ycaza retired in 1971 before briefly trying his hand in 1977 with driving Standardbreds, then had a short comeback in the saddle in 1983-84. He retired with 2,367 victories from 10,561 mounts.

Ycaza lived out his years quietly in Queens, N.Y., with Jeanne, whom he married in 1982 and with whom he had a daughter, Carla. He was a big baseball fan whose favorite team was the New York Mets. He seldom attended the races except for some Hall of Fame induction weekends in Saratoga.

“I really got to know him over the last several years,” said Terry Meyocks, a longtime executive with The Jockey’s Guild. “He was a true gentleman.”

Ycaza was married in 1962 to Linda Bement, who in 1960 had been crowned Miss USA and Miss Universe. The couple had two children, Manuel and Lindita, before divorcing in 1969. Bement died in March of natural causes in Salt Lake City.

Visitation will be held Friday from 2-5 and 7-9 p.m. at the Fox Funeral Home in Forest Hills, N.Y. A funeral Mass will be held Saturday at 9:30 a.m. at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs, with burial to follow at the Mt. St. Mary cemetery in Flushing.

The family requests that memorial contributions be made to “Jockeys and Jeans” for the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund.

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Proctor’s Ledge will have at least one thing in her favor when she takes on trainer Chad Brown’s arsenal of three Grade 1 winners in Saturday’s $500,000 Diana Stakes, the first Grade 1 race at Saratoga this year.

She loves the course.

Proctor’s Ledge went 2 for 2 at Saratoga last summer, beating Brown-trained runners in both the Grade 3 Lake George and Grade 2 Lake Placid stakes. Proctor’s Ledge has finished behind Brown-trained runners in three of four starts since then, including a second-place finish behind A Raving Beauty in the Grade 1 Just a Game at Belmont last month.

Brendan Walsh, the trainer of Proctor’s Ledge, noted that his filly gave A Raving Beauty six pounds in the one-mile Just a Game. Proctor’s Ledge will be getting two pounds from A Raving Beauty on Saturday.

“She ran super; she gave weight to everybody as well,” Walsh said. “She might have found the [one-turn] mile a little too sharp for her.”

The Diana is run at 1 1/8 miles, a distance at which Proctor’s Ledge won the Lake Placid.

John Velazquez, who rode Proctor’s Ledge to victory in the Grade 2 Distaff Turf Mile at Churchill Downs in May and in the Just a Game, is committed to riding Sistercharlie in the Diana. Jose Ortiz has picked up the mount on Proctor’s Ledge, who will break from post 2.

In addition to A Raving Beauty, who drew post 6, Brown will run Sistercharlie (post 1), the winner of the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley in April, and New Money Honey (post 3), the 2017 Belmont Oaks winner.

War Canoe, a recent New York-bred allowance winner, drew post 4; Ultra Brat, the winner of the Grade 3 Gallorette over a bog at Pimlico, drew post 5; and Hawksmoor, a multiple graded stakes winner who finished fifth in the Grade 1 Gamely at Santa Anita last out, drew post 7.

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The Daily Racing Form‘s David Grening and Mike Welsch report from Saratoga Race Course on the opening of the 2018 meet, and why you need to attend.