Saratoga notes: Emma’s Encore, My Miss Aurelia to skip Test

Grade 1 winners Emma’s Encore and My Miss Aurelia will not run in Saturday’s Grade 1 Test Stakes.

Trainer Allen Jerkens said Monday that the Test is too close back for Emma’s Encore, who is coming off a nose victory in the Grade 1 Prioress on Aug. 4.

“She had a harder race than you think last time. He had to ask her pretty hard to get up,” Jerkens said. “We hope she’ll be around for a while, and we think this is the best way of enhancing her being around for a while.”

Jerkens said Emma’s Encore would be pointed to the Grade 2, $200,000 Gallant Bloom Handicap at Belmont on Sept. 22.

Trainer Steve Asmussen also felt the Test was too close back for My Miss Aurelia, last year’s 2-year-old filly champion, who came off nine-month layoff to win the Mandy’s Gold, an overnight stakes, by three lengths Aug. 8.

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On Sunday, My Miss Aurelia returned to the work tab, breezing five furlongs in 1:03.04 over the Oklahoma training track. Asmussen said no final decision has been made on where My Miss Aurelia would make her next start.

Cohen to ride at Kentucky Downs

David Cohen plans to ride the six-day meeting at Kentucky Downs – Sept. 8-19 – and possibly move his tack to Kentucky for the fall meetings at Keeneland and Churchill.

Cohen, who is represented by agent Bill Castle, was asked by trainer Larry Jones to come to Kentucky to ride first call for him during that six-day Kentucky Downs meet. Cohen said he also has picked up support from Ken McPeek and Dale Romans.

Cohen, who was the second-leading rider on the NYRA circuit in 2010 with 180 wins and fourth in 2011 with 164 wins, said he has not discounted a return to New York for the fall or winter.

“New York is home to us and has been for the last four years now, but we do have a very big and good opportunity to highly consider when it comes to what to do after Sept. 19 and that would be Keeneland, and, if all goes well there, back into Churchill and go from there,” Cohen said.

Pair of horses euthanized

There were two horses euthanized here Monday, one during training hours and one during the races.

Molly Mingun, a 4-year-old filly who was attempting to come back from a two-year layoff, suffered a fractured shoulder during a turf workout over the Oklahoma turf course. Her rider, the steeplechase jockey Darren Nagle, was taken to Saratoga Hospital and according to Jonathan Sheppard, the trainer of Molly Mingun, likely suffered a broken collarbone.

Earlier in the meet, Nagle was suspended by the stewards here for “gross careless riding” for an incident in which he elbowed another rider during a steeplechase race. He was eligible to return next week.

In the summer of 2010, Molly Mingun won a maiden race and finished second in a stakes – both at Colonial Downs – before having to be sidelined due to injury. She had been trained by Hamilton Smith, but was subsequently transferred to Sheppard.

In the second race, Pete’s Parley fractured both sesamoids in his left foreleg at the eighth pole of a seven-furlong New York-bred allowance race and had to be euthanized.

Jockey Junior Alvarado was taken off the track on a stretcher and transported by ambulance to Saratoga Hospital, but was quickly released and was cleared to ride Wednesday.

◗ Cease, who is 3 for 3 over Saratoga’s main track, worked five furlongs in 1:01.16 in preparation for a start in the Grade 1, $750,000 Woodward here Sept. 1.