My Palmilla recovered so rapidly from a win in her debut at Del Mar on July 16 that she persuaded trainer Mark Glatt to enter her in Friday’s $100,000 California Thoroughbred Breeders Association Stakes at Del Mar.
When Point Given won the first of Bob Baffert’s seven Haskells in 2001, the trainer knew the big horse was not at his best. Point Given had won the Preakness by 2 1/4 and the Belmont Stakes by 12 1/4. So the trainer took it easy that June and July. Baffert is taking no chances with his Triple Crown winner. He has worked American Pharoah hard and often. AP will be ready.
Every horseplayer knows what it’s like to come across a card where horses seem to jump off the page at you. Friday’s card at Saratoga is like that for me. I think this card has a nice mix of price horses worth taking a shot with and logical horses that look downright solid. I might wind up pitching a shutout, but if I do, at least I’ll go down with horses I like.
Wise Dan, the 2012 and 2013 Horse of the Year, continues to train forwardly at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky.. Conditions permitting, the 8-year-old Wise Dan is on schedule to have his third workout this weekend as he continues his comeback from an injury sustained last October.
Bob Baffert has won the Haskell a record seven times, all since 2001, including four times in the past five years. And he’ll be heavily favored to get his eighth win on Sunday with Triple Crown winner American Pharoah.
Ellis Park racing officials are expecting a well-matched field of fillies and mares for the western Kentucky track’s signature race, the one-mile Groupie Doll Stakes, to be run next Saturday, Aug. 8.
American Pharoah is scheduled to school in the paddock Friday prior to race 1, offering fans an excellent chance to get a close look at the Triple Crown winner this week.
The road to the Sept. 13 Woodbine Mile begins in earnest here Friday, when the classy Kaigun meets a sharp Tower of Texas in the 6 1/2-furlong allowance prep for next month’s Play the King Stakes.
Steeled by a race that figures to do her a world of good, Bridled Heiress returns to action Friday as the obvious horse to beat in the $46,000 feature at Gulfstream Park, a second-level allowance carded as the ninth of 10 races.
A pair of evenly matched allowance races anchors a solid 10-race program Friday night at Evangeline Downs. The evening’s action gets underway at 5:40 p.m. Central.
