SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – When it's a big race day, you'll find Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert.Saturday is a big race day at Saratoga Race Course. Seven graded stakes–six of them Grade Is worth $5.9 million. Of course, Baffert is going to be here.He doesn't have a horse in the $2 million GI Belmont Stakes, but he has an impressive trio – Nysos (Nyquist), Crude Velocity (Beau Liam) and Imagination (Into Mischief) — running on the undercard.“It's a big day, so you have to bring the good ones,” Baffert said by phone from Louisville, Ky. “We are looking forward to it.”Start with Nysos (Nyquist), the 9-5 morning line favorite for the GI Met Mile. He has seven wins in nine career starts and was second in the other two. In his last race, he was second in the Saudi Cup. With its $20 million purse, it's the richest horse race in the world.He was defeated by Forever Young (Real Steel {Jpn}) by a length.In the Met Mile, Nysos, owned by Baoma Corp., Mrs. John Magnier, Michael B. Tabor and Derrick Smith, will break from post position one.“I don't know why I get the rail all the time,” said Baffert, who seems to get that dreaded post in plenty of big races. “What are you going to do? I think they put me in the rail and then they draw the race! He is going to have to break well; that is always important.”Baffert also has the morning line favorite in the $500,000 GI Woody Stephens at seven furlongs. That is 9-5 Crude Velocity, who has won all three of his starts–all this year–by a nearly combined 11 lengths.In his last start, Crude Velocity, owned by CSLR Racing Partners, won the GII Pat Day Mile in stakes record time (1:33.87).“He has shown a lot of brilliance,” Baffert said. “I was debating whether to stretch him out in the (1 1/16 mile, GIII) Matt Winn (at Churchill Downs on Sunday) and then take him to the (GI) Haskell. We know he is really good at one turn, and the Woody Stephens is a really good race, a tough race. We will take a crack at it.”Imagination is the 4-1 third choice on the morning line for the $400,000 GIII True North and will be facing 8-5 morning line favorite Bentornato (Valiant Master), last year's GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint champ and 2-1 Book'em Danno, the True North winner in 2025.This will be the second time Imagination, owned by SF Racing, LLC, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables LLC, Stonestreet Stables LLC, Bashor Racing LLC, Robert E. Masterson, Waves Edge Capital LLC, Catherine Donovan and Rom J. Ryan, has run at Saratoga.In 2024, he was a well-beaten seventh in the Woody Stephens.“When he ran at Saratoga, he really wasn't on his game,” Baffert said. “He is on his game now.” This Might be the Year for AntiquarianA year ago, Antiquarian (Preservationist) sat in the backseat when it came to the older horses residing in the barn of Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher. It was easy to see why with the likes of Fierceness (City of Light) and Mindframe (Constitution) living in Pletcher's shedrow.Owned by Centennial Farm, Antiquarian did alright for himself in 2025, thank you.He had two wins and two seconds in five starts, four of them graded stakes races.“I don't think so,” Pletcher said outside his office on the Oklahoma Training Track when asked if Antiquarian got the respect he deserved last year “But I think he is in position now to have a big year.”The 5-year-old horse, a 5 3/4-length winner of the GIII Westchester in his 2026 debut last month, is running in the stacked $1-million GI Met Mile on Saturday. Antiquarian, 6-1 on the morning line, is not getting the Met Mile buzz of 9-5 Nysos (Nyquist), 5-2 Journalism (Curlin) or 7-2 Knightsbridge (Nyquist), but Pletcher says he belongs.“If he can improve just a little bit, which we always felt that he would as he got older, he could have a lot to say in the older horse division,” Pletcher said.Antiquarian's 2025 season was highlighted by victory in the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup, but his win is not what most remember the race for. Mindframe unseated jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. and White Abarrio (Race Day) nearly lost Edgard Zayas.“(Antiquarian) still ran a great race; with all the craziness going on, he probably didn't get the credit he deserved for winning that race,” Pletcher said. “There were so many question marks about what might have happened if Mindframe didn't lose his rider. It was a race that everyone was focused on all of that instead of Antiquarian winning. That was unfortunate because he did run a very good race.”His season ended with a thud when Antiquarian finished eighth – beaten 37 1/2 lengths–in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar.“He did like Del Mar at all,” Pletcher said. “It seemed like every day he regressed. So, you throw out the Classic.”For his career, Antiquarian has five wins and three seconds in 11 starts. Deterministic Going for Rare Repeat in ManhattanIf you want to see trainer Miguel Clement perk right up, just bring up his 5-year-old horse named Deterministic (Liam's Map). It's obvious the affinity the 35-year-old Clement has for the aptly named Deterministic, the 7-2 third choice on the morning line for Saturday's $1-million GI Manhattan.Deterministic and jockey Kendrick Carmouche will attempt to become the first horse since Milesius to win back-to-back editions of the Manhattan, which was first run in 1867. Milesius did it in 1988-89.“We are very excited about him,” Clement said outside his barn on the Oklahoma Training Track. “He has been very good, is a remarkable mover and is very talented. He has a great mind and is just built different, which makes our job a lot easier.”When Deterministic won the Manhattan last year, it was an emotional scene for Clement and his whole family. The patriarch of the clan and the architect of the stable, Christophe Clement, passed away two weeks before the Manhattan.The Manhattan was the first Grade I win for Miguel who took over the barn after being a longtime assistant to his father.“I try to stay emotionless as much as possible because last year was full of emotion,” Clement said. “Without a doubt, it was very meaningful and was great for the stable to get a big win off the bat. And it was even better to share the victory with friends and family. We had a lot going on.”Deterministic, owned by St. Elias Stable, Ken Lagone, Steven Dunker and Vicarage Stable, has won four straight races. His first start this year was a victory in the GIII Fort Marcy at Aqueduct on May 2.He won last year's Manhattan–which was run at 1 1/8 miles (it is 1 3/16 miles Saturday)–in gate-to-wire style. Deterministic won by a head over Integration (Quality Road), who is 12-1 on the morning line in this Manhattan.Rhetorical (Not This Time) is the 2-1 morning-line Manhattan for trainer Will Walden. The post Belmont Notes: Baffert Offers Powerful Triumvirate for Belmont Stakes Undercard appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.