SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – If the stretch run of last year’s Grade 1 Spinaway between Brightwork and Ways and Means is any indication, Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Test rematching the two exciting fillies should be a memorable event.
Trainer Jose D’Angelo is hoping Kirin will be able to transfer his good dirt form to turf in Saturday’s five-furlong, $100,000 Tyro Stakes at Monmouth Park.
He’s not alone.
Turf is the question mark for six of the seven 2-year-olds entered in the Tyro. Governor Sam is the lone horse to have raced on the grass, and he could go favored off a win in maiden special weight at Saratoga.
Otherwise, horseplayers will have to sort through various data to get a gauge on the field that includes Johnny Come Lately, a half-brother to 2019 Tyro winner Karak.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – National Treasure makes a return trip to Saratoga with a chance to take a stranglehold of the older male dirt division when he runs in Saturday’s $1 million Whitney Stakes. But if National Treasure is to achieve his third Grade 1 victory of the year, it is anticipated he will have to work harder than he did here eight weeks ago, when he dominated the $1 million Metropolitan Handicap.
On paper, the Met Mile was a two-horse race and the other horse – White Abarrio – was a no-show. National Treasure dictated terms and won by 6 1/4 lengths over Post Time.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Harold Ladouceur is a rare breed among trainers. The 57-year-old gallops many of his own horses, including the Stronach Stables runners Rafaroo and Vitality, who are both headed to the $1 million King’s Plate on Aug. 17.
Rafaroo and Vitality were in the same maiden race on the canceled July 14 card at Woodbine, after which they went their separate ways. The following Friday, Vitality graduated with authority in his first start as a gelding, a day before Rafaroo finished a bang-up second to heavily favored My Boy Prince in the Plate Trial Stakes.
Rafaroo
Colt by Hard Spun – Light Green, by Pleasantly Perfect
Bred in Ontario by Adena Springs
Rafaroo is still a maiden, but gave a fine account of himself in his second career start, finishing second to My Boy Prince in the Plate Trial. The colt’s pedigree is a good blend of stamina over speed.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Summer at Del Mar is a virtual fountain of youth for the 7-year-old gelding Carmelita’s Man.
“It’s obvious he likes this course down here a little better,” trainer Dean Pederson said last week while Carmelita’s Man relaxed in his outside pen. Saturday, the veteran will try to become the first horse to win $150,000 California Dreamin’ Stakes three times.
Precise Timing will take on five others in the WTBOA Lassies Stakes going 6 1/2 furlongs on Saturday at Emerald Downs. Owned by Blue Ribbon Racing .23, Precise Timing, who debuted in and won the Angie C Stakes on July 6, has drawn the inside post as she attempts to further establish her leadership of the local 2-year-old filly division.
Trained by Kay Cooper, the daughter of Dialed In has dazzled in the mornings, particularly with a two-furlong breeze on June 17, which was among the fastest ever recorded at the track and distance.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The best filly or mare in California has a home-field advantage Saturday at Del Mar, but the visitors are loaded in the Grade 1 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes.
Adare Manor will be tough to beat in the Hirsch, a historically predictable race for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles. Favorites have won 15 of the last 24, Adare Manor’s up-front style keeps her clear from trouble, and she won the Hirsch last year and both her recent starts by open lengths.
The 6-year-old Louisiana-bred mare Ova Charged’s racing career hit a new level when connections switched her to turf earlier this year. The people calling the shots with Red Carpet Ready hope for a similar result when the 4-year-old filly makes her turf debut Saturday at Ellis Park in the $250,000 Kentucky Downs Preview Ladies Turf Sprint.
