SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Arguably the top North American juvenile turf filly of 2024, May Day Ready has not yet found her stride as a 3-year-old. With two races under her belt and in a field where she is the lone graded stakes winner, May Day Ready could get back on course in Saturday’s Grade 2, $400,000 Lake Placid Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Saratoga.
Just two months ago, a pair of Blaine Wright trainees, 3-year-old Goin’ South and 4-year-old Tougherthantherest, looked poised to race in stakes on Longacres Mile Day. Now, after a pair of last-out duds, Wright is trying to figure out what each horse is made of as he stretches both out to a mile for the first time this year on Saturday.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Scylla and Hope Road seek to find their best form in what may be their best opportunity to achieve a Grade 1 victory when the two head a field of female sprinters in Saturday’s $500,000 Ballerina at Saratoga.
Scylla, a 5-year-old daughter of Tapit trained by Bill Mott, finished second in last year’s Ballerina and later was fourth, beaten just one length by longshot Soul of an Angel in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Ticker Tape Home will try to win Saturday’s Grade 3 Seaway for the second year in a row for Mark Casse, but Woodbine’s leading trainer has three other bullets to fire in the $150,000 sprint for fillies and mares.
Stormcast has been working strongly for her return from a long layoff. Olivia Rose ran the race of her life last out in a restricted stakes. The supplemented Canadian champion Elysian Field is on the comeback trail. All three could be a factor in the seven-furlong race.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – On the 2024 Travers Day card, trainer Bill Mott debuted a 2-year-old colt by Into Mischief and owned by Godolphin who came with a late run to finish fourth at odds of 11-1. The chart read, “Angled out six to seven wide into upper stretch, closed well to the finish to secure the last major share.”
Saffie Joseph Jr. has nine horses entered at Charles Town on Friday, and a quartet of 3-year-old fillies could possibly lead the charge for the trainer in the Grade 2 Charles Town Oaks.
Within Joseph’s small cavalry, Indy Bay seems to have the strongest chance in the Charles Town Oaks after a distant third-place finish in the Grade 3 Victory Ride at Saratoga. In the $150,000 Jersey Girl in June, she wrapped up a three-race winning streak with her first stakes victory.
Banishing doesn’t need flashy forms of communication to tell David Jacobson when he’s ready. Coming off a valiant effort at Ellis Park last month in his eighth race of the year, it’s abundantly clear to the trainer that his 5-year-old gelding is prepared for a wide-open running of the Grade 2, $1 million Charles Town Classic on Friday night.
“He’s pretty much prepared,” Jacobson said. “He’s pretty fit, has run through the whole year. He’s just doing everything right. Nothing wrong.”
Ombudsman turned the tables on Delacroix and did so decisively while winning the Group 1 Juddmonte International Stakes on Wednesday at York Racecourse in England.
Beaten a neck by his 3-year-old rival in the Eclipse Stakes last month at Sandown Park, 4-year-old Ombudsman powered home a 3 1/2-length winner of the International while giving seven pounds to Delacroix.
Derick Giwner, editor of Daily Racing Form’s DRF Harness, has been selected for induction into the Communicators wing of the Harness Racing Hall of Fame, the United States Harness Writers Association announced Tuesday.
Giwner, a two-time winner of the Hervey Award for writing and a Man of the Year recipient from the USHWA in 2020, was tabbed to lead DRF Harness at its launch in 2012. His weekly Harness Digest Newsletter “is a must read for many segments of the harness community,” the USHWA said in a press release announcing his selection.
Trainer Brad Cox has two leading 3-year-old turf fillies, Fionn and Destino d’Oro, aimed toward the Dueling Grounds Oaks next month at Kentucky Downs. He has a third horse in the same division, Yes It Tiz, headed toward favoritism in the co-featured eighth race Friday at Ellis Park.
