SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y – Trainer Chad Brown has won six of the last seven runnings of the Grade 1 Just a Game Stakes and is expected to have five runners in next Friday’s renewal of the $500,000 one-mile turf race.
Brown is planning to run Beaute Cachee, Chili Flag, Coppice, Gina Romantica, and Whitebeam in the Just a Game. Some of those fillies and mares were also nominated to the Grade 1, $750,000 New York at 1 3/16 miles on the same card.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The reigning 2-year-old male champion Fierceness may not be running next weekend in Saratoga, but the reigning 2-year-old filly champ will be, as Just F Y I had her final preparations Friday morning for next Friday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Acorn Stakes at Saratoga.
A neck separated Beach Daze and Riding Pretty in the Smart N Classy Handicap last year, and they meet again in this year’s Smart N Classy on Sunday at Monmouth Park.
The Smart N Classy, for older New Jersey-bred fillies and mares, drew a field of six. Beach Daze, the narrow winner of last year’s renewal, is the 124-pound highweight and gives three pounds – more than she should – to Riding Pretty.
Trainer Chad Brown has mainly decamped to New York now, but, of course, he still has a filly at Churchill Downs for Sunday’s Grade 3, $250,000 Mint Julep Stakes.
Brown runs top horses in all divisions but nowhere is his stable as strong as with older fillies and mares in turf routes. The Mint Julep is a 1 1/16-mile grass race, and the Brown-trained Delahaye is the one to beat.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Todd Pletcher may not be running his most accomplished 3-year-old in the Belmont Stakes on June 8, but he could arguably be running his most exciting prospect when he sends out Mindframe in the third leg of Thoroughbred racing’s Triple Crown to be run at Saratoga.
After getting some much-deserved time off to recuperate from a fairly ambitious winter campaign, Frankie’s Empire will get back to action Sunday at Gulfstream Park in the $75,000 Trinniberg overnight handicap for 3-year-olds going seven furlongs on the main track.
Ace Impact, a brilliant winner of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in October, only showed depth of his ability winning the Prix du Jockey Club at odds of nearly 9-1 in early June. Whoever comes out on top of this year’s renewal of France’s derby on Sunday at Chantilly is, like Ace Impact, a horse who has who has not yet revealed his potential.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The talented import Stormy Entry makes his Woodbine debut in Sunday’s featured conditioned allowance, scheduled for 1 1/16 miles on the inner turf.
Trained by Roger Attfield for owner/breeder Charles Fipke, Stormy Entry made his first four starts in Ireland over the synthetic track at Dundalk during the winter of 2022-23. The 4-year-old graduated second time out in a seven-furlong allowance in January 2023 and then doubled up in a one-mile allowance a month later. In March 2023, Stormy Entry wound up third in the one-mile Patton Stakes.
Anywho and Richi could be well-known fillies by the end of the summer.
Anywho won a six-furlong allowance race by eight lengths in her 2024 debut on May 17 at Churchill Downs for trainer John Sadler. Richi was a multiple Group 1 winner in Chile who joined trainer Bob Baffert’s stable last winter.
The two fillies are part of a field of seven in Sunday’s $100,000 Desert Stormer Stakes for fillies and mares at six furlongs at Santa Anita. The field also includes three American stakes winners in Chismosa, Outside the Law, and Tom’s Regret.
Papa’s Golden Boy will make his long-awaited return to the races as the one to catch in Sunday’s open-allowance feature over 5 1/2 furlongs at Emerald Downs.
Papa’s Golden Boy, a Vince Gibson trainee owned by Lusk Racing, will renew his rivalry with Slew’s Tiz Whiz on Sunday. Slew’s Tiz Whiz, trained by Tom Wenzel, was the winner of the 2022 Longacres Mile, with Papa’s Golden Boy a commendable runner-up. The third-place finisher, Five Star General, went on to take the 2023 running of the Longacres Mile.
