Trainer Bruce Brown thought he had an up-and-coming turf-sprint stakes horse in the 4-year-old Spring to the Sky. But in Sunday’s $100,000 Fiddlers Patriot Stakes at Saratoga, it was the hard-knocking 7-year-old Strong Impact who got the job done for Brown.
The Minnesota Thoroughbred Association held its Stallion Auction Stakes on Sunday at Canterbury Park. The two races, run at 6 1/2 furlongs and carrying purses of $35,000 each, were run over a sloppy surface after morning storms saturated the racetrack.
So Long George ($23.60) notched his first stakes win after an ideal inside trip under Emma-Jayne Wilson in the $216,000 Nijinsky at Woodbine on Sunday.
Nymphea, ridden by 18-year-old amateur jockey Dennis Schiergen for his father, trainer Peter Schiergen, led throughout Sunday’s Group 1 Grosser Preis Von Berlin at Hoppegarten Racecourse in Germany.
Leigh Court, coming off a second-place finish in the 6 1/2-furlong prep for the Duchess Stakes, became a stakes winner in the main event here Sunday.
Belmont Stakes winner Palace Malice completed his serious preparation for Saturday’s Grade 2, $600,000 Jim Dandy Stakes by working a half-mile in 49.69 seconds Sunday over Saratoga’s main track.
Trainer Bill Mott was understandably in a jovial mood Sunday morning, roughly 16 hours after Royal Delta dominated Saturday’s Grade 1 Delaware Handicap by 10 3/4 lengths.
Total handle was up slightly from last year, although on-track handle was down significantly, at the recently concluded Belmont Park spring-summer meet, according to figures released Sunday by the New York Racing Association.
Miss Addison picked up her first stakes win in Saturday night’s $50,000 Matron at Evangeline Downs. Pacesetter and favorite Little Polka Dot finished 1 1/2 lengths back in second, followed by Burning Creole.
Mike Welsch's Pick 3 play for July 22 at Saratoga.
