SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Carlos Martin and owner Marc Holliday didn’t have much time to celebrate the debut victory of their 2-year-old New York-bred filly Celtic Dawn in Wednesday’s sixth race.
After winning the off-the-turf race by three lengths and having her picture taken in the winner’s circle, Celtic Dawn had to be vanned off the track. She was taken to Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital about a mile from the track where she was diagnosed with a fractured pastern in her left foreleg.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – After briefly flirting with taking him cross-country for the Grade 1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar, the connections of White Abarrio have decided to leave their 2023 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner on the East Coast and run him in the Grade 1, $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup on Aug. 31 at Saratoga.
Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said what he’s seen from White Abarrio’s training since his fourth-place finish in the Whitney here on Aug. 3 leads him to believe he’s sitting on a top effort.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The Jockey Club Gold Cup will be shown on national Fox during a one-hour broadcast from 1-2 p.m. on Aug. 31, it was announced Friday. Post time for the Gold Cup will be 1:45 p.m. and first post for that day’s card will be 11:20 a.m. Eastern.
In the Maryland State Fair’s first weekend of racing this year at Timonium Race Course, the skies may finally clear for Happy Clouds and trainer Ryan Gillespie. The 5-year-old mare is uniquely prepared to snap a 10-race losing streak in the $75,000 Shine Again Stakes on Saturday.
“This year, she’s gotten faster with age,” Gillespie said. “It’s crazy, but it happens, and that’s just the way it is sometimes.”
Slewperstitus, a 2-year-old filly trained by Robert Bailes, will make her turf debut at Colonial Downs on Saturday, but her competition remains unclear. Bailes cross-entered her in two state-restricted $125,000 stakes on the card, the Dolley Madison and Jamestown.
“We’ll probably put our heads together Friday night and figure it out,” Bailes said.
It’s a game of opinions, right? And isn’t it also a game where opinion should bend with the accumulation of evidence? And, as trainer Steve Asmussen often has pointed out, in this game you need not merely state an opinion: You can bet on it.
Travers
Asmussen sends out a horse that as of a couple weeks ago would not, in my opinion, win the Travers Stakes. The Travers always has been Sovereignty’s race.
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – To hear trainer Kenny McPeek tell it, the 4-year-old Thorpedo Anna is “every bit” as good as the 3-year-old Thorpedo Anna, the one who won 6 of 7 starts and was crowned 2024 Horse of the Year.
If true, Thorpedo Anna should win Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Personal Ensign Stakes at Saratoga. If not, the Personal Ensign, which drew a field of seven, becomes a wide-open affair.
DEL MAR, Calif. – A summer sprint stakes that regained its relevance offers veteran Grade 1 winners a chance for the same on Saturday at Del Mar.
But do Stronghold, Speed Boat Beach, and Express Train still have what it takes to win the Grade 2 Pat O’Brien Stakes? It’s a fair question, because none have won a race in more than a year, nor have graded stakes-winning entrants Dr. Venkman and Spirit of Makena.
Nine are entered in the seven-furlong Pat O’Brien, a Win and You’re In for the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile on Nov. 1 at Del Mar.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Book’em Danno will attempt to complete a sweep of the three graded sprint races for older horses this year at Saratoga in the $500,000 Forego on Saturday when taking on last year’s winner Mullikin and nine others. The Grade 1 fixture will be decided at seven furlongs and is a Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series race offering the winner a free berth into the Dirt Mile.
