Although favorites are winning at a 37 percent clip at the meet, not enough of them have come through for pick six bettors recently, and a three-day carryover of $321,859 has been sitting on ice since Sunday, when one live ticket to the favored Slan Abhaile fell by the wayside in the last leg.
Approximately 10 percent of the picnic tables in the backyard of Saratoga Race Course will be reserved for paying customers during the meet that starts July 24 and runs through Sept. 7, the New York Racing Association announced on Monday.
A number of potential contenders for the Grade 2 Smile Sprint Handicap on July 5 got in key workouts over the last several days, including reigning division champ Work All Week, who went five furlongs in 59.40 seconds at the Churchill Downs training center on Sunday.
Owner-trainer Carlo Vaccarezza said he felt like he got “the monkey off my back” after his Grade 1-placed Little Alexis visited the winner’s circle for the first time in nearly a year when out-gaming the favored Best Behavior to register a well-deserved neck victory in Saturday’s Barely Even Handicap at Gulfstream Park.
Garnet Barnsdale's analysis of the Tuesday 6/23 card at Mohawk Racetrack.
Brewster Smith's analysis of the Tuesday Afternoon 6/23 card at Yonkers Raceway.
In style and substance, the North America Cup final, the lone $1 million race for standardbreds north of the border had it all. In the end the winning streak of Wiggle It Jiggleit went by the board and a new star in Wakizashi Hanover emerged.
While Tower of Texas ran on to victory in Sunday’s Grade 2 King Edward Stakes at Woodbine, a notable absentee from the race was River Seven, who finished third in the Grade 2 Connaught Cup on May 30.
Daily Racing Form’s Matt Hegarty won the top prize for news reporting in a single article at the American Horse Publications annual awards banquet Saturday in San Antonio, Texas.
Midnight Aria ran to his second consecutive runner-up finish in the Grade 2 Eclipse Stakes on June 7 and will be looking to find the winner’s circle when he returns to the same distance of his 2013 Queen’s Plate triumph in the Grade 3, $150,000 Dominion Day Handicap on July 1 at Woodbine.
