Trainer Peter Walder could have graded stakes starters on two fronts Aug. 15. He said Come to Mischief is on deck for the Grade 2, $200,000 Adirondack Stakes at Saratoga, while Maid On a Mission is possible for the Grade 1, $750,000 Beverly D. Stakes at Arlington Park.
American Pharoah is a singular specimen, ridiculously ideal by many of the measures cherished by the wise old hands who were first to extol his virtues. The package is plain, as far as that goes – a ripe mahogany with dark trim and the faintest suggestion of a white whorl between the eyes – but the proportions balance as if painted by Rembrandt. The expanse between his kind eyes is broad, while his handsome ears twitch with curiosity, like twin birds on a living perch.
Six years after Rachel Alexandra raised the rafters at Saratoga by beating the boys in the Grade 1 Woodward Stakes, her second foal becomes the first one to make it to races makes Sunday at Saratoga.
Free as a Bird is back at Saratoga Sunday for the $100,000 Caress Stakes, a 5 1/2 furlong turf stakes, and with only a five-horse field, perhaps a traffic-free trip could be in the cards.
Atlantic’s Smile won a head bob as the 3-5 favorite in the $50,000 Arctic Queen Stakes at Finger Lakes on Friday.
Saratoga has the reputation of being hazardous to the success of champion Thoroughbreds, but beyond that is the realization that a top-notch opponent isn’t easy for any champion to beat. When Untapable, last year’s champion 3-year-old filly, makes her Saratoga debut in Sunday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Shuvee Handicap, Stopchargingmaria – and not history – will be her toughest foe.
Parx Racing has added five $150,000 stakes to its Fall Festival, where overnight purses at the Bensalem, Pa., track will average $500,000 a day.
Easily the most exciting moment at the 2015 Hastings meet came when Square Dancer won a $50,000 optional race in his first start here July 18. What made the race so memorable is that Square Dancer, who is trained by Steve Henson, is the first horse to start for the newly formed Hastings Racing Club.
DRF handicapper Joe DeVivo provides a suggested pick three play for Saturday's program at Saratoga.
There were approximately 5,000 people here on Friday morning at Monmouth Park, track officials estimated, merely to watch American Pharoah train. There will be well more than 10 times that here on Sunday, when the first Triple Crown winner in 37 years embarks on the encore portion of his career in the Grade 1, $1.75 million Haskell Invitational.
