Isivunguvungu will make his delayed 8-year-old debut in a $56,000 allowance on Friday at Laurel Park. Trainer Graham Motion considered tougher spots for the perennial stakes contender earlier this year, including the $125,000 Jim McKay Turf Sprint last month, but he will ultimately opt for a softer 5 1/2-furlong turf sprint to reintroduce his seasoned gelding.
Kerness K tied the mark for most North American wins in 2026 last Saturday, notching his sixth straight victory with a furious rally at Delaware Park. Claimed back by Jamie Ness in March, the 4-year-old gelding has come alive while tearing through starter-allowance conditions in the Mid-Atlantic.
“We were lucky to get him back, and I think he’s just a good horse that’s taking advantage,” Ness said. “I’m spotting him in conditions where he’s going to be the 1-5 favorite. Hopefully, we can keep him in $7,500 starter allowance conditions and keep that streak going.”
Quint’s Brew has accomplished a great deal in his 14-race career, racking up six stakes victories and establishing himself as one of the foremost horses in the Mid-Atlantic. But for all his experience, the 5-year-old gelding has never run through the summer, a task that has trainer Ned Allard at a sort of crossroads.
ARCADIA, Calif. – In several ways, Freedom’s Not Free’s win in the Grade 3 Daytona Stakes was the most important victory of his 10-race career.
Not only was the Daytona Stakes Freedom’s Not Free’s first graded stakes win, but the result showed trainer Mark Glatt that the colt can be effective as a 4-year-old.
“You never know how the 3-year-olds will transition to their 4-year-old” seasons, Glatt said. “If they’re stakes horses, as he was as a 3-year-old, the water gets much deeper when they face older horses.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – Jockey Umberto Rispoli is preparing for a comeback after sustaining leg and ankle injuries at Gulfstream Park in January.
Rispoli began exercising horses at Santa Anita last Friday. He plans to resume riding during a brief stay at Ellis Park in Kentucky in early July before focusing on the Del Mar summer meeting that begins on July 17, according to his agent, Matt Nakatani.
“He’s eager to get back,” Nakatani said.
Saturday’s program at Santa Anita has carryovers in two multi-race bets.
The pick six, which covers the seventh through 12th races, has a carryover of $53,569, while the $1 Sunset Six, which covers the final three races of the day at Gulfstream Park and Santa Anita, begins with a carryover of $3,113.
The pool of new money in the pick six at Santa Anita may surpass $350,000.
The carryovers were clinched when 10-1 Long Mayshe Reign held off a late run from 5-2 favorite Lady Rider to win Friday’s ninth race. Lady Rider was covered in the pick six.
Juan Hernandez, one of the leading riders in California in recent years, will ride at Royal Ascot in Britain for the first time next week.
Hernandez, 34, is booked to ride three mounts for trainer Wesley Ward – Ruiva in Wednesday’s Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes for 2-year-old fillies, Bacio in Friday’s Palace of Holyroodhouse Handicap for 3-year-olds, and Ez Tina in Saturday’s Group 2 Norfolk Stakes for 2-year-olds.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Tom Morley said he started thinking about Royal Ascot for More Champagne the moment the hammer dropped confirming he had purchased the then-unnamed 2-year-old filly for $100,000 at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales March auction.
Morley said the quiet part out loud to Jack Wolf, who along with his wife, Laurie, helped put together the racing partnership known as StarsLadies, part-owner of More Champagne.
“Jack looked at me as if I lost my mind,” Morley said.
Santa Anita canceled the final four races on Thursday’s program after repeated power failures midway through a nine-race program.
After the fifth race, power was lost for approximately 40 minutes before it was briefly restored via a backup generator, the track said in a statement. A few minutes later, the generator failed.
The track dealt with power issues earlier in the week, an official said.
The runners for Thursday’s sixth race were in the paddock for more than 30 minutes with the hope that power could be restored.
Listenupshance, a former $20,000 claimer who finished third in the Grade 3 True North Stakes at Saratoga last Saturday, is scheduled to start in the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar on July 25.
“I think it’s a strong possibility,” trainer Doug O’Neill said on Thursday.
Listenupshance was beaten three-quarters of a length by 2025 champion male sprinter Book’em Danno in the $400,000 True North at 6 1/2 furlongs and was a nose behind second-place finisher Bentornato, the winner of the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Del Mar last November.
