A handful of stakes performers, chief among them a nationally familiar name in Grade 2 winner Lord Miles, headline a $75,000 handicap that serves as the feature on Saturday’s 11-race card at Gulfstream Park. First post is 12:55 p.m.
Run Snappy heads a division of the unique Hollywood Harbor Sprint Series, which will commence with two divisions over 5 1/2 furlongs on Saturday at Emerald Downs.
Named after the North American record holder at Saturday’s distance, the Hollywood Harbor Sprint Series begins with a pair of $8,000 claiming events. On Aug. 3, a $10,000 claiming event will be held for those who started in one of Saturday’s divisions. The final is Aug. 24.
While the established stakes winners Endlessly and Final Boss aim to graded turf races later in summer, 11 other 3-year-olds will try to establish credentials in the $100,000 Oceanside Stakes on Saturday, opening day at Del Mar.
Scatify and We’re in Trouble top the Oceanside, a restricted turf mile that is the first of three turf stakes for summer 3-year-olds. The Grade 3 La Jolla Handicap is Aug. 4; the Grade 2 Del Mar Derby is Sept. 1.
Summer is showtime for precocious California 2-year-olds, and though a handful already won impressively at Santa Anita, Los Alamitos, and Churchill Downs, the elite typically emerge in summer at Del Mar.
In the 40-year history of the Breeders’ Cup, some 15 BC Juvenile winners and 12 BC Juvenile Fillies winners made summer starts at Del Mar. During the same period, eight colts who raced as 2-year-olds at Del Mar in summer won the Kentucky Derby the following spring.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – A powerful storm with heavy rain and strong winds blew through Saratoga on Tuesday night, knocking down large tree branches and even downing a power line on the backside. Fortunately, there were no injuries to horses or humans reported.
A downed power wire adjacent to Clare Court prompted the New York Racing Association to shut power off in that area. Power was restored Tuesday night, and the power infrastructure was fully repaired Wednesday.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – A Grade 1 win at 2 and a decent third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies figured to have prepared Candied to be a major factor in the 3-year-old filly division this year.
It hasn’t quite worked out that way. Yet.
But there is the second half of the year to rectify that. Saturday, Candied will see where she stacks up against the division’s best when she faces multiple Grade 1 winner Thorpedo Anna in the Grade 1, $500,000 Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga.
Proven as a turf sprinter, the 3-year-old filly Invincible Molly will start at a mile on turf for the first time in Saturday’s Grade 2 San Clemente Handicap at Del Mar, part of the opening day of the famous track’s summer season.
The distance may suit Invincible Molly, trainer Jeff Mullins said on Wednesday.
“Everybody that has ridden her says she needs to go to two turns,” he said.
Invincible Molly has won three of her last five starts in England and California, all at six furlongs on turf, including an allowance race at Santa Anita on May 11.
Monmouth Park-based trainer Eddie Owens thought enough of a New Jersey-bred 2-year-old named Sea Streak that he debuted the horse last summer in the $130,000 Smoke Glacken Stakes. Sea Streak validated Owens’s high opinion, turning in a runner-up performance good enough to win the Smoke Glacken most years, and Sea Steak has turned out good enough that he’s scheduled to race Saturday in the $1 million Haskell Stakes.
Distinctive Flower is the elder stateswoman in the field for the $75,000 Vivacious Stakes for Ohio-bred fillies and mares Friday on the Belterra Park turf, one of four stakes on the program. The mare, who won this race in 2020, is making her 9-year-old debut in the 2024 edition, the oldest entrant in the field of 11.
