SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer Jeffrey Englehart will serve a 14-day suspension issued by the New York State Gaming Commission for an overage of the therapeutic medication Phenylbutazone discovered in the post-race sample of Victory Built, who finished second in the second race at Aqueduct on March 11.
Englehart, who waived his right of appeal, will serve the suspension from Thursday through Aug. 16. He was also fined $2,000.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - After celebrating his 70th birthday and Elite Power’s gritty victory in the Grade 1 Vanderbilt by hosting a party for a small gathering of family and close friends on Saturday evening, trainer Bill Mott on Sunday was back at the barn where he reported the good news that the reigning Sprint champion had come out of the race “looking great” and in tip-top shape.
Jonathan Wong, a perennial leading trainer in Northern California, was cleared to resume training on Saturday, four weeks after he was provisionally suspended by the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit after a positive for a banned substance was found in one of his starters at Horseshoe Indianapolis on June 1.
According to HIWU’s website, the status of Wong’s case has been changed from an active provisional suspension to a postponed provisional suspension. Wong is now eligible to enter horses. Del Mar stewards received notice from HIWU about Wong’s status Saturday morning.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - The field for Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Whitney Stakes at Saratoga was undergoing renovations Monday as two of the expected five starters are no longer pointing to the race.
West Will Power and Smile Happy are no longer under consideration for the race, according to New York Racing Association stakes coordinator Andrew Byrnes. The reasons for West Will Power not running are unclear.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer Brendan Walsh stood on the roof at Saratoga early Saturday morning to watch his top 3-year-old filly Pretty Mischievous put in her final work for next Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Test Stakes.
At first, Walsh wasn’t necessarily liking the view. But with the aid of a two-way radio, Walsh was able to communicate with jockey Tyler Gaffalione to ultimately get the work he wanted and have her ready for the race.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Trainer Mike DePaulo has booked the hot Hall-of-Famer Javier Castellano to ride Stanley House in the $1 million King’s Plate at Woodbine.
Castellano rode Stanley House to victory in a 1 1/16-mile maiden special over Gulfstream’s Tapeta in March. Stanley House subsequently won an allowance here before a belated sixth-place finish as the favorite in the Plate Trial Stakes, both under Luis Contreras.
“Castellano rode him a couple of times, and the last time he rode him, he won,” DePaulo pointed out. “He knows the horse. He breezed him at Gulfstream.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Lone Rock, an eight-time stakes-winning marathoner and earner of $1.4 million, has been retired from racing, his connections said Saturday morning.
That decision was made two days after the 8-year-old gelding was basically eased finishing sixth in the $150,000 Birdstone Stakes at Saratoga, the second consecutive race in which he was well beaten.
“He’s been too good to even think about doing something wrong,” said Jay Provenzano, of Flying P Stables, which owns Lone Rock in partnership with Randy Hill and Flying Partners.
The organization that conducts harness racing at Cal-Expo in Sacramento, Calif., has a long-term lease to conduct racing at the facility that could disrupt tentative plans to make the venue the future home of Thoroughbred racing in Northern California as early as 2024 following the closure of Golden Gate Fields in Albany later this year.
Churchill Downs Inc. had record second-quarter revenue of $768.5 million this year, largely due to the contributions this year of businesses it has acquired in the past 12 months, according to financial documents released by the company on Wednesday afternoon.
