A bigger cinch could show up later this summer, but on the first Saturday of the Del Mar meet, the Grade 2 San Clemente looks like a cakewalk for the favorite.
Thought Process, a smashing comeback winner at Santa Anita, enters the San Clemente as a standout. Nothing against likely second choice Will Then, but for her the San Clemente is a means to an end. Will Then has not raced in nearly three months. Thought Process is razor sharp.
Five offshore sportsbooks have been fined $50,000 each by Tennessee gaming regulators.
The penalties were issued to BetAnySports, BetOnline, Bookmaker, Everygame, and JazzSports, the Tennessee Sports Wagering Council announced this week.
BetOnline had been ordered in May to shutter its operations in Tennessee, while the other four platforms operated in the state without acquiring the proper licensing, regulators said.
Tennessee is one of several states that has stepped up enforcement of its gaming rules by targeting nefarious operators.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The Saratoga-based millionaire Danse Macabre seems ideally spotted with Lasix being added in Saturday’s featured conditioned allowance/optional claimer at Woodbine, a six-furlong main turf sprint with a field of seven fillies and mares.
A 5-year-old trained by Miguel Clement, Danse Macabre captured two stakes early in 2023, including the Grade 3 Herecomesthebride going a mile at Gulfstream Park. She evolved into a turf-sprint specialist and won the Glen Cove Stakes in October 2023 at Aqueduct, which was her last trip to the winner’s circle.
Since Om Fire announced his arrival at Emerald Downs in the middle of his 4-year-old campaign with a 4 1/2-length win in a $5,000 claiming race, trainer Liz Kowalski has not been shy about seeking tougher company for the gelded son of Om and the mare Well Caught.
Rosemary Pasquarello was named clerk of scales by the New York Racing Association. She is believed to be the first woman to hold that position on this circuit.
Pasquarello replaces Jack Welsh, who resigned that position in March. Pasquarello has been working in the jockeys’ room, alongside assistant clerk of scales Brian Pochman, since March.
The clerk of scales is responsible for making sure the jockeys carry the correct weight, get to the paddock on time, and are wearing the correct silks.
Trainer Tom Amoss won two races from seven starters during the first week of the Saratoga meet, but the best is likely yet to come.
Amoss ended the Churchill Downs meet by sending out the 2-year-old colt Dazzle d’Oro to a smart-looking three-length victory in a field off 11. He showed good speed from the gate, turned back an upper-stretch challenge from Blackout Time, and drew away from that one, who finished 7 3/4 lengths clear of the third-place finisher.
Dazzle d’Oro covered the six furlongs in 1:08.65 and earned an 84 Beyer Speed Figure.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Having upset the reigning female dirt champion Idiomatic in last year’s Grade 1 Personal Ensign at Saratoga, it would not have been a surprise had Raging Sea been retired and bred in 2025.
While Jon Clay is a commercial breeder, one thing trainer Chad Brown has learned about him is that he enjoys racing his horses.
“Once he keeps them, if he gets one less yearling out of them, that’s okay, he’d rather run them,” Brown said. “He’s a sportsman, he enjoys watching his horses run.”
In November 2024, trainer Sal Santoro and owner Wallace Moore Jr. wracked their brains trying to figure out why 4-year-old filly Ashima was in another $8,000 claiming race, four weeks after she won at the same level by four lengths at Gulfstream Park.
Without any noticeable hints of regression, Santoro guessed that it could be a behavioral problem. He decided that he could deal with that. He and Moore claimed her, watched her kick away to a similarly commanding 4 1/2-length victory, and braced themselves for a headstrong horse. She lived up to the billing.
Jockey Abel Lezcano, who has won 11 races this year, is booked on three mounts on Friday’s opening day at Del Mar after receiving a temporary restraining order earlier this month against the California Horse Racing Board for a seven-day suspension recently.
Lezcano was cited for careless riding in the ninth race at Los Alamitos on June 27. Track stewards suspended Lezcano for failing to maintain a straight course and causing an incident in which another rider was unseated.
