SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Cogburn was a rock-solid horse on the dirt, winning three races and earning a Grade 2-placing in the 2022 Chick Lang at Pimlico.
But it’s on turf that Cogburn has reached his full potential, winning four of five races, including the Grade 2 Turf Sprint last month at Churchill Downs, and the Grade 3 Troy last summer over a soft Saratoga grass course.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Rick Dutrow hopes White Abarrio enjoys a happy homecoming Saturday when he meets National Treasure and four others in the Grade 1, $1 million Metropolitan Handicap at Saratoga.
Coming off a disappointing 10th-place finish in the $20 million Saudi Cup in February, White Abarrio returns to Saratoga, where last summer he ran arguably the best race of his career winning the Grade 1 Whitney Stakes by 6 1/2 lengths in a race that featured 2023 Horse of the Year Cody’s Wish.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The Belmont Stakes isn’t the only Grade 1 for 3-year-olds on Saturday at Saratoga with a very talented and well-matched field. The $500,000 Woody Stephens has lured a pair of Grade 1 winners, a Grade 2 winner, and the runner-up from last month’s Grade 2 Pat Day Mile, a race which produced the winner of the Preakness two weeks ago.
The star-crossed 4-year-old Extra Anejo scored a rousing 3 1/2-length allowance win May 30 at Churchill in his latest return from a layoff.
A $1.35 million yearling owned by Winchell Thoroughbreds, Extra Anejo, a massive beast, was one of the most impressive 2-year-old winners of 2022 but didn’t start between his October debut and the following May. Fourth in the Haskell last July, he suffered another setback and didn’t start again until last week.
Gabaldon embarks on his journey to Royal Ascot on Saturday when the 2-year-old leaves his South Florida base for Kentucky. He is bound for the Windsor Castle Stakes on June 19.
Gabaldon won his debut in last month’s Royal Palm Juvenile at Gulfstream Park and earned an invitation to the Windsor Castle, a five-furlong turf race. The colt will be the first Royal Ascot starter for the South Florida-based trainer Jose D’Angelo.
“I’m going to be there with my big hat,” he said.
With Idiomatic having all but conquered the distaff division leading her connections to entertain the idea of racing against older males, First Mission rising toward the top of the older horse division, and Hit Show a strong comeback winner of his 4-year-old debut, trainer Brad Cox already had some thinking to do about how and where to place horses in important dirt routes this summer. And after Highland Falls won the Grade 3, $275,000 Blame Stakes on Saturday at Churchill, Cox had another horse to consider for Grade 1 races at nine furlongs and beyond.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – As impressive as it was for trainer D. Wayne Lukas to win the Preakness Stakes at age 88, exercise rider Danny Ramsey may have him beat.
At age 74, Ramsey still gets on five to seven horses every morning, something he has done since coming to the United States in 1970 following a five-year riding career in his native Nassau, Bahamas. For the last few weeks, Ramsey has been the regular exercise rider for Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan and Kentucky Oaks winner Thorpedo Anna.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The day before the two top finishers in the Kentucky Derby meet in the $2 million Belmont Stakes, the top two finishers from the Kentucky Oaks are set for a rematch when Thorpedo Anna and Just F Y I head a field of 3-year-old fillies set to run in the Grade 1, $500,000 Acorn at Saratoga.
Fair and Square will officially pick up his trophy as the 2023 Ohio-bred horse of the year when statebred champions are honored during the racing program on Friday at Belterra Park. He has the opportunity to add some more hardware to his trophy case, as he runs in the $100,000 Best of Ohio Sydney Gendelman Stakes on the card.
