SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y – Twilight Eclipse, a troubled third last out in the Grade 2 United Nations at Monmouth Park, got the opportunity to stretch his legs over the main track here on Tuesday morning, breezing an easy half-mile in 51.53 seconds.
Twilight Eclipse is nominated to Saturday’s Grade 2 Bowling Green but will skip the race to await the Grade 1 Sword Dancer on Travers Day, Aug. 29.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – After making a dozen consecutive starts against stakes company, 11 of them in graded races, since winning her debut here at 2, Sweet Whiskey finally dropped into the allowance ranks here Monday and made the most of the opportunity, registering a 4 1/2-length triumph.
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The Backstretch Employee Service Team on Saturday will distribute approximately 40 pairs of work boots to backstretch workers with foot problems associated with diabetes.
The shoe distribution is part of a project dubbed BEST Steps Forward, a program designed to raise money to assist backstretch workers. At Belmont in April, BEST distributed about 20 pairs of boots to workers.
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When Radiator won her U.S. debut at Keeneland in April, she looked like a burgeoning stakes horse.
In two stakes tries since, however, Radiator has come up empty, finishing sixth in the Grade 3 Beaugay and seventh in the Intercontinental Stakes, both at Belmont Park.
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The Grade 2, $750,000 West Virginia Derby at Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack & Resort, which will be run Saturday, drew a field of 11 when entries were taken Monday.
The likely favorites are Madefromlucky, who is one of three Todd Pletcher entrants; Tale of Verve, who races for Dallas Stewart; Bent on Bourbon, who is trained by Eddie Kenneally; and Tekton, who is conditioned by Tony Dutrow.
A leading trainer at Canterbury Park in Shakopee, Minn., has been suspended by the track stewards for 90 days after a horse he trained tested positive for methamphetamine, but the track itself issued a statement contending that officials there did not believe the positive was a result of a deliberate drugging of the horse.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Wesley Ward brought the champion female sprinter Judy the Beauty back to the races this year primarily because the Breeders’ Cup is at Keeneland, where the 6-year-old mare has trained and excelled throughout her career.
Judy the Beauty’s road to a repeat bid in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint will run through Saratoga, where she is expected to run twice, beginning with Wednesday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Honorable Miss Handicap at six furlongs. The Honorable Miss is a prep for the Grade 1 Ballerina on Aug. 29.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Admiral Jaxon, a 3-1 shot, was declared a nonstarter from the third race at Del Mar on Sunday after the race began while an assistant starter was guiding the gelding into the starting gate.
Admiral Jaxon was being walked into the gate of a $40,000 claiming race for maidens when starter John Lopez began the race. The assistant starter who led Admiral Jaxon into the gate scrambled to get out of the way as the gelding took off at the back of the field. Admiral Jaxon ran at the back of the field of nine before eventually finishing fifth.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The tornado that the National Weather Service flashed a warning about never came, so Saratoga’s 147th meet was able to storm out of the starting gates in a major way Friday.
Business on opening day was huge, with an all-sources handle figure of $17,706,202, up 18.7 percent over last year’s figure of $14,916,986. Ontrack handle – which includes money wagered at Saratoga, Aqueduct, Belmont, and through NYRA Rewards – was $5,040,927, up 19 percent compared with last year’s figure of $4,235,167.
Fly On The Night risks her unbeaten record in Sunday’s $143,000 Prix Robert Papin at 5 1/2 furlongs at Maisons-Laffitte Racecourse, one of the first major stakes of the year for 2-year-olds in France.
Trained by Attilio Giorgi, Fly On The Night won twice in Italy before winning her French debut in the Group 3 Prix de Bois at five furlongs at Chantilly on June 29.
