SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Whether it was 12 furlongs at Belmont Park, 10 furlongs at Belmont, or nine furlongs at Saratoga, trainer Todd Pletcher has enjoyed uncanny success in the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks.
Saturday, at Saratoga, Pletcher will go for his ninth victory in this Grade 1 fixture for 3-year-old fillies with the New York-bred Gambling Girl, who takes on five rivals in what appears to be a pretty wide-open race.
On the second day of the Del Mar season, horses, trainers, and bettors are basically starting from scratch and mindful of a summer handicapping precept – fresh horses are preferred at the competitive eight-week meet.
Plenty of fresh horses will run Saturday at Del Mar. They include a lightly raced French import whose impressive U.S. debut stamps her a contender in the Grade 2 San Clemente Stakes; a turf-sprint comebacker who trains as if she will relish two turns in the $100,000 Osunitas Stakes; and a deep field of unraced juvenile fillies that includes a speedy upset candidate.
Heart On the Run has been a bit of a success story in 2023 and returns from a two-month rest to make her second start at Emerald Downs in Saturday’s $15,000 open claiming feature for fillies and mares.
A daughter of Tavasco, Heart On the Run is trained by Jennifer Nunnally, who claimed the now 4-year-old from her final start of 2022 for $4,500 at Turf Paradise. Since that time, the filly has made her way up the class ladder while earning decent paychecks at levels well above the original level at which she was claimed.
Back when Bob Baffert was permitted to race at Churchill Downs, you’d have said, as the calendar turned over to February, that Arabian Knight was his best Derby hope. Baffert has won the Derby six times. He’s won the Haskell Stakes nine times. And Saturday at Monmouth Park, it’s Kentucky Derby winner Mage and six others standing between Arabian Knight and a 10th Haskell for Baffert.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The absence of Woodbine’s leading sprinter, Our Flash Drive, who’s in the Grade 3 Caress at Saratoga, has left Saturday’s $150,000 Hendrie Stakes more competitive than initially anticipated.
Our Flash Drive’s trainer, Mark Casse, went to his deep bench and entered Miss Speedy, who should be among the favorites in the 6 1/2-furlong event for fillies and mares.
One will recall that last weekend, defending winner I Recall loomed large in the field for the $75,000 Vivacious Stakes for Ohio-bred fillies and mares on the Belterra Park turf. One week later, her advantages still hold true as I Recall goes in the rescheduled Vivacious, part of what is now a massive card Saturday in Cincinnati.
Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen came into the second half of summer 2022 feeling like the best 3-year-old in North America, Epicenter, resided in his barn. Asmussen enters the same period in 2023 with the same kind of feeling – twice over.
Disarm will take Epicenter’s path, running in the Jim Dandy and the Travers at Saratoga, the two races Epicenter won to cement his place at the head of last year’s 3-year-old division. Meanwhile, Extra Anejo is set to make his stakes debut Saturday at Monmouth Park in the Grade 1, $1 million Haskell.
Red Baron’s Barn and Cohen’s Rancho Temescal have two stakes chances in the next month with Dr. Schivel and Quattroelle.
Dr. Schivel, fifth after a wide trip in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Mile Handicap at Belmont Park June 10 in his 2023 stakes debut, will start as a leading contender in the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes at six furlongs on July 29.
Dr. Schivel was ridden by Irad Ortiz, Jr. in the Met Mile and finished 8 3/4 lengths behind the stellar Cody’s Wish.
“He didn’t have the greatest ride in New York,” Cohen said.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – With five of the 10 fillies entered in the race, trainer Chad Brown obviously will have a major influence on Friday’s $175,000 Lake George Stakes at Saratoga. But with an 85 percent chance of rain in the forecast for that afternoon, it is Mother Nature who might have the biggest say in determining both the final make-up of the field and outcome of the Grade 3 turf fixture for 3-year-old fillies.
When he flew through the stretch to win the Grade 3 San Francisco Mile at Golden Gate Fields in April 2022, Evening Sun appeared poised to play a key role in the competitive California turf miler division through the rest of that year.
An injury forced a pause to Evening’s Sun career, which is scheduled to resume in Sunday’s $100,000 Wickerr Stakes, a restricted race at a mile on turf at Del Mar. Trained by Jeff Mullins for Red Baron’s Barn and Rancho Temescal, the 6-year-old Evening Sun can reestablish a position among California’s turf milers with a sharp race in the Wickerr.
