SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – It doesn't take long for Gus Rodriguez, the trainer of Phileas Fogg (Astern {Aus}) to come up with a reason why his horse is targeting the $1 million GI Whitney Stakes a week from Saturday at Saratoga.Forget the fact that his speedy Kentucky-bred will be taking on the grizzlies of the older horse division in Magnitude (Not This Time), Sovereignty (Into Mischief), Baeza (McKinzie) and White Abarrio (Race Day). And, just for kicks, throw in the marvelous filly Nitrogen (Medaglia d'Oro) and you have yourself one of the best races of the year.But back to Gus Rodriguez and why he is here. Simple, really.“The place. The racetrack. He loves this track,” Rodriguez said outside his barn at the Oklahoma training Track. “That's pretty much it.”In five starts at Saratoga, Phileas Fogg has three wins.Phileas Fogg | Sarah AndrewNamed after the protagonist of Jules Verne's novel Around the World in Eighty Days, Phileas Fogg is a well-traveled 6-year-old, a former claimer who was bought for $62,500 by Rodriguez and owner Steve Shapiro's Jupiter Stable.He has become a graded stakes winner, the biggest of them being back-to-back wins in the GII Suburban Stakes at Saratoga. Earlier this month, Phileas Fogg and jockey Kendrick Carmouche demolished 10 others in the Suburban when they scored a front-running victory by 10 lengths and earning a whopping Beyer Speed Figure of 107.Last year, after winning the Suburban, Rodriguez opted to wait for the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup at the end of the Saratoga meet. This year, the Gold Cup, like the Suburban, a 1 1/4-mile distance, will be held at the new Belmont Park on opening day, Sept. 18.If the Gold Cup was still at the Spa, Rodriguez would probably wait for it. Since it's not, he will go to the Whitney because, well, Gus already told us how much his horse likes Saratoga. Even though the Whitney is 1 1/8 miles, it's here.Phileas Fogg has won two of three starts this year and has 11 wins in 24 career starts. In four starts at Saratoga, he has three wins and one off the board finish That came in last year's Jockey Club Gold Cup.“This horse loves two turns,” Rodriguez said. “He has won at 1 1/8 miles but with easy company. We are going to run against the best horses in the world in the Whitney. He deserves that chance.”A former assistant to his brother Rudy, Gus Rodriguez has been training on his own since 2013. Known mainly as a claiming trainer, he has two graded stakes wins on his resume: the two Suburbans won by Phileas Fogg.If he could somehow get the Whitney ….“Just to be in it is a dream,” he said. “The way he went in the Suburban, he belongs with them. If he breaks on top and they don't go too crazy with him and he is comfortable, it will be tough to catch him.”A muddy morning at Saratoga Thursday | Sarah AndrewAfter A Day Of Non-Stop Rain, It Was Back To Normal… Sort OfThe skies were still dark on Thursday morning and rain was coming down, but the conditions were much, much better than Wednesday when a torrential all-day storm dumped up to six inches of rain (according to the National Weather Service in Albany) over Saratoga Springs.The horse population on the main track and Oklahoma Training Track was larger than it was the day before and racing resumed at the Spa after the New York Racing Association called it off on Wednesday.Trainer Dale Romans sat in his golf cart outside his barn on the Saratoga backstretch and watched his horses train on the main track. The day before, he only allowed them to jog on the soupy strip.“It is better today,” he said. “We galloped a few but jogged most of them. It's still messy.”Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse had planned to work Nitrogen (Medaglia d'Oro) on Wednesday as last year's champion Eclipse Award winning 3-year-old filly gets ready to take on the boys in next weekend's GI Whitney Stakes.The rain KO'd that plan and Casse had to make a new one. She will have her final Whitney work, a maintenance breeze, on Friday.“It doesn't mean anything,” Casse said outside his barn on the main track, “The older I get, I realize that most of it is just baloney. I can tell you she is not going to run any better if she breezed on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday. If we had to, we could go into the race and not breeze, and she would be just fine.”Casse's horses did not go to the track on Wednesday; they were back to work on Thursday as a light drizzle became heavier as the morning went on. It eventually stopped and the eight-race card scheduled for Thursday was set to go.No one on the backstretch Thursday had a problem with Wednesday's card being called off.“I don't blame management for canceling yesterday,” trainer Danny Gargan said at his barn on the Saratoga backstretch. “You've got to realize they are under a microscope. One bad thing and we are all sitting over there crying. Be thankful everyone is here, everyone is sound, and everyone is going forward.”The National Weather Service in Albany says Friday and Saturday should be pretty nice but there is a chance for the wet stuff to return on Sunday afternoon.Talkin (outside) | Sarah AndrewTalkin Is Going To Get Some Time OffThe last time Talkin (Good Magic) was seen at the races was the GI Preakness Stakes where he finished 12th in the field of 14. The colt was at trainer Danny Gargan's barn at Saratoga on Thursday morning, but he won't be there much longer.He is heading to Dr. Stowe Burke's Burke Equine Therapy in Saratoga by the end of the week and will be turned out for a month or two.“He is not doing as good as we would like so we are going to give him some time off,” Gargan said at his barn on the Saratoga backstretch. “There is nothing major; I'm just not pleased with how he is doing. He is a little sour and we'll freshen him up.”Talkin is owned by Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, Pine Racing Stables, Legendary Thoroughbreds, Belmar Racing and Breeding, LLC and R.A. Hill Stable.Gargan said Talkin sustained some cuts during the Preakness and, after being treated, came back to the barn and the trainer wasn't happy with him. The decision was made to give him some R&R and then bring him back in the fall.Before his Preakness, Talkin finished third in the GI Blue Grass Stakes and fifth in the GIII Tampa Bay Derby.As a 2-year-old, he broke his maiden in career start No. 1–that came at Saratoga last Aug. 30 and is his only win in six starts. What followed was a distant second behind future Preakness winner Napoleon Solo (Liam's Map) in the GII Champagne Stakes and a disappointing ninth in the GII Remsen Stakes.The post Saratoga Notebook, Presented By NYRA Bets: No Place Like Saratoga For Phileas Fogg appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.