Of the runners not trained by Phil D’Amato in the Grade 2 Eddie Read Stakes on July 30 at Del Mar, I’mgonnabesomebody finished second. The problem is D’Amato-trained runners swept the first four positions.
“He didn’t have to be that greedy,” trainer Bill McLean cracked Friday.
I’mgonnabesomebody was beaten 4 3/4 lengths by multiple graded stakes winner Gold Phoenix in the Eddie Read. For I’mgonnabesomebody, the Read was his only start of the Del Mar summer meeting.
Barese and Sea Foam won editions of the New York Derby, one of the biggest races at Finger Lakes, in their respective 3-year-old seasons. Both ship back to the Farmington, N.Y., track from the New York Racing Association circuit in search of another stakes score in the $50,000 Genesee Valley Breeders’ Stakes. The 1 1/16-mile race for statebred 3-year-olds and up highlights an eight-race holiday Monday card, which begins at 1:15 p.m.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – On the day the Saratoga meet comes to an end, Wit will be looking to begin his career anew when he returns from a seven-month-plus layoff in the $150,000 Bernard Baruch Stakes at 1 1/16 miles over the Mellon turf course.
Bought for $450,000 as a 2-year-old in 2021, Micro Share has yet to live up to expectations.
But consecutive wins in allowance races at Pleasanton and Del Mar this summer have encouraged trainer Richard Mandella, who has entered Micro Share in Monday’s $100,000 Tranquility Lake Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles on dirt at Del Mar.
“She’s a nice filly,” Mandella said. “She’s not the greatest filly in the world.”
To fully see Stage Left’s suitability to the $100,000 Rumson Stakes on Sunday at Monmouth Park you need to take a trip back in time.
The Rumson is a dirt sprint, but an especially short one, carded for five furlongs. Stage Left is a 7-year-old making his 38th career start on Sunday. His debut came about 5 1/2 years ago, in an April 2-year-old maiden race at Keeneland, where, going a mere 4 1/2 furlongs, Stage Left won off by four lengths. The gelding can run short.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Two of the most impressive performances of the meet by a 2-year-old filly were turned in on the same Aug. 6 card with Brightwork winning the Grade 3 Adirondack Stakes 3 1/2 hours after Ways and Means won a maiden race in spectacular fashion.
Fast forward four weeks and those two fillies square off in Sunday’s Grade 1, $300,000 Spinaway Stakes going seven furlongs at Saratoga.
Petulante missed an intended stakes start last month, but is back working regularly at his Gulfstream Park base and could see graded stakes action in New York this fall, according to trainer Victor Barboza Jr.
Petulante had been training toward a start in the Grade 3, $250,000 Philip H. Iselin on Aug. 19 at Monmouth Park, but a small setback disrupted those plans, Barboza said. The horse had won the Grade 3 Salvator Mile at Monmouth in June.
“He’s good now,” Barboza said. “He had his second breeze last weekend.”
The 3-year-old filly Safeen already has made her $18,000 auction price look ridiculous, and even greater riches await Sunday at Kentucky Downs in the $1 million Dueling Grounds Oaks.
Safeen is one of 13 entered in the Dueling Grounds Oaks, a race that encompasses one circuit around the undulating Kentucky Downs course. The race is limited to a dozen runners and carded for 1 5/16 miles, though with a considerable run-up the distance will be closer to 1 3/8 miles.
The lack of clarity in the 3-year-old turf division in California has led to an open running of the Grade 2 Del Mar Derby on Sunday.
There is no shortage of contenders in the top race on an 11-race program that begins at 1:30 p.m. Pacific.
Conclude won the Oceanside Stakes at a mile on turf in his first start around two turns July 21 and will race at 1 1/8 miles for the first time in the $300,000 Del Mar Derby.
