Trainer Todd Pletcher is doing a juggling act with his 3-year-olds this weekend, but his plans seem set for at least one horse, Stanford, who could be the horse to catch and beat in Friday’s $100,000 Curlin Stakes at Saratoga.
With only seven weeks of action, the Del Mar jockey race can be vulnerable to a hot streak from an unexpected rider hooked up with barn on a roll. But by the end of week two, with nine programs in the books, the cream starts to rise, and Flavien Prat has been no fluke. He had ridden his nine winners for six different trainers, five of them for Hall of Famers Richard Mandella and Jerry Hollendorfer, including the Hollendorfer-trained Wild Dude in the Bing Crosby.
Drug testing for horses at West Virginia racetracks will be handled by Industrial Labs in Colorado as of Aug. 12 after the state racing commission voted to allow the state’s current contract with Truesdail Laboratories in California to expire, commission officials said Wednesday.
Attendance and handle declined in the first nine days of the Del Mar meeting, according to data released by the track Wednesday.
Fame and Power, the winner of the Sir Barton Stakes at Pimlico in May, starts Friday in an allowance race that could be a prep for the $100,000 El Cajon Stakes for 3-year-olds Aug. 29.
Warren’s Veneda could not lose in the winter, winning three consecutive stakes at Santa Anita. She could not win in the spring and early summer, losing three consecutive stakes. On Saturday, Warren’s Veneda starts in her third Grade 1 race of the year in the $300,000 Clement Hirsch Stakes for fillies and mares at Del Mar.
Charlie Hayward, former executive for Daily Racing Form and the New York Racing Association, suffered a fractured pelvis when he was hit by a car while riding a bicycle.
The lineup for Saturday’s Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga changed significantly at entry time Wednesday and figures to change yet again by post time.
Solow won his eighth consecutive race, and earned a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Keeneland on Oct. 31, with a half-length win in Wednesday’s $1.56 million Sussex Stakes at Goodwood Racecourse in England.
The American Association of Equine Practitioners said it will support a ban on the race-day use of the anti-bleeding medication furosemide if an “alternative of equal or greater efficacy” can be identified, the AAEP said on Wednesday as part of a 10-point plan to pursue medication reform.
