DEL MAR, Calif. – Watching from Kentucky, Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert saw what he expected when Brant won Sunday’s Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity.
Brant set the pace and won the seven-furlong race as the 1-10 favorite to confirm his status among the nation’s leading 2-year-old males as the summer draws to a close.
“I’m just glad he’s in my barn and I don’t have to run against him,” Baffert said in a phone interview.
Percy’s Bar went to Saratoga from her Keeneland base and finished second behind Tommy Jo in the Grade 1 Spinaway on Aug. 30. It was not a close second. More than six lengths separated first and second in the seven-furlong Spinaway.
Percy’s Bar’s trainer, Ben Colebrook, is not exactly looking forward to a rematch with fellow 2-year-old filly Tommy Jo in the Alcibiades Stakes next month at Keeneland, but a change of venue and a move from one to two turns at least gives Colebrook a glimmer of hope.
When the calendar flipped to August, trainer Keith Desormeaux was muddling through 2025. From Jan. 1 through July 31, the Desormeaux stable scratched out 12 winners from 128 runners for earnings of about $654,0000.
“We weren’t necessarily in a funk, but just getting so close all the time,” Desormeaux said. “You got to stop on a horse right when it’s ready – things like that. We’re right there, but it’s just not happening.”
Jose D’Angelo has run horses at Churchill Downs, but late this summer and into fall – if not beyond – the trainer will stable horses there as well.
D’Angelo, at Kentucky Downs this weekend, said he has stalls for the September racing season that starts Thursday in barn 44, the former longtime home of the late D. Wayne Lukas’s stable. Among his Churchill stock are three prominent runners in recent Kentucky Downs races.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Steve Chircop could be holding a pair of aces with Twist of Sugar and Heart Tap in Thursday’s opening race, a five-furlong maiden special weight for 2-year-olds on the inner turf that lured four fillies and two colts.
With the addition of Lasix, the speedy Twist of Sugar should go favored under Ryan Munger. She started twice on the main turf this summer, finishing fourth at first asking after surrendering a clear lead in midstretch in a six-furlong maiden special weight on July 26.
The Attard clan runs four of the 10 fillies in Tuesday’s $100,000 Rondeau Bay on the Prince of Wales undercard at Fort Erie. It’s one of two 6 1/2-furlong dirt stakes for Ontario-sired 3-year-olds on the card, along with the $100,000 Lake Erie for the boys.
Whirl might not be the best 3-year-old filly currently trained by Aidan O’Brien, but she’s the star of the Sunday card at Longchamp.
The annual preview program for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe includes three Arc preps: The Group 2 Prix Foy for older horses, the Group 2 Prix Niel for 3-year-olds, and the Group 1 Prix Vermeille, for fillies and mares. Whirl is set to face five foes in the 1 1/2-mile Vermeille, for which she was an odds-on favorite with British bookmakers as of Friday.
King’s Plate winner Mansetti will try to keep his roll going at Fort Erie in Tuesday’s second leg of the Canadian Triple Crown, the 90th running of the $400,000 Prince of Wales Stakes over 1 3/16 miles on the dirt.
Mansetti’s front-running score on Tapeta in the 1 1/4-mile Plate was a memorable one for Woodbine’s leading rider, Pietro Moran, who became the first apprentice to win the historic stakes since Herb Lindberg in 1935. The 20-year-old also became the youngest Plate-winning jockey since 19-year-old Dave Stevenson in 1956.
Caught in one of the toughest older dirt horse divisions in the last decade, trainer Brittany Russell said Thursday that Post Time will not return to the Breeders’ Cup in 2025. Opportunities on the national stage have spelled disappointment for the Maryland-bred in his 5-year-old campaign, but not all is lost for the Mid-Atlantic star. There are always opportunities to make history at home.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The Great Oz was nicely spotted when landing his July 11 season opener under Eswan Flores. The almost white 7-year-old moves up in class on Sunday at Woodbine and should be a good fit in the 6 1/2-furlong conditioned allowance, which has a $50,000 claiming option.
