Mon, 08/19/2019 - 13:56

Del Mar Handicap winner Acclimate has come a long way in a year

DEL MAR, Calif. – Less than a year after he won a $20,000 claimer for maidens at Los Alamitos, Acclimate is bound for the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita on Nov. 2 as a multiple graded stakes winner on turf.

Saturday at Del Mar, Acclimate won the richest race of his career in the Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap, leading throughout the $250,702 race at 1 3/8 miles on turf. As the winner of the Del Mar Handicap, Acclimate received a fees-paid berth to the BC Turf at 1 1/2 miles.

Mon, 08/19/2019 - 13:16

Addition of Mucho Gusto brings expected Travers field to 12

Benoit Photo
Mucho Gusto wins the Affirmed Stakes on Sunday - the first time he has won stakes in consecutive races.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Bob Baffert will have a horse in the Runhappy Travers after all.

Mucho Gusto, runner-up to Maximum Security in last month’s Grade 1 Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park, worked so well Monday morning at Del Mar that Baffert has elected to put him on a plane Tuesday bound for New York and Saturday’s Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers at Saratoga. Baffert had been pointing Mucho Gusto to the Grade 1, $1 million Pennsylvania Derby at Parx Racing on Sept. 21.

Mon, 08/19/2019 - 12:06

Jeansonne has big week with babies

Coady Photography
Tizsfranderella scored her first stakes win in the Aug. 14 La Senorita.

Evangeline Downs-based trainer Justin Jeansonne is coming off a week to remember. He won the $75,000 La Senorita at Retama Park on his late father’s birthday, Aug. 14, and two days later celebrated the birth of daughter Jetta Joy with his wife, Jade.

“It’s been a fantastic week – an overwhelming and happy week,” said Jeansonne, 36.

Tizsfranderella remained undefeated in two starts in the La Senorita for 2-year-old fillies on turf. For her two-turn debut she earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 62.

Mon, 08/19/2019 - 12:00

Stall targeting another Super Derby win

Coady Photography
Trainer Al Stall is still looking for his first victory at the current Fair Grounds meet.

Trainer Al Stall will attempt to win the Super Derby for an unprecedented fourth time next month when he saddles Rescind in the richest race at Louisiana Downs.

The Grade 3, $300,000 Super Derby is Sept. 7.

Rescind put himself in the 1 1/16-mile race when he won a first-level allowance at Louisiana Downs with a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 76 on Aug. 12. The score came following a local maiden special weight win. Both races were at two turns on turf, the grass becoming an option after desired main-track races did not fill for Rescind.

Mon, 08/19/2019 - 11:50

Attfield targeting different stakes with Mr. Hustle, Pleasecallmeback

Michael Burns
Mr. Hustle was a 2 1/2-length winner of Sunday's Soaring Free Stakes.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Owner William Werner’s one-two finishers in Sunday’s $103,600 Soaring Free Stakes, Mr. Hustle and Pleasecallmeback, may go their separate ways this fall, according to trainer Roger Attfield.

Mr. Hustle extended his unbeaten record to three races when scoring by 2 1/2 lengths in his turf debut in the 6 1/2-furlong sprint for 2-year-olds. Attfield said the $235,000 yearling purchase, a Kentucky-bred son of Declaration of War, is headed to the Grade 1 Summer Stakes here Sept. 15. The one-mile turf event is a Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series Win and You’re In race.

Sun, 08/18/2019 - 17:13

Omaha Beach could resume training this week

Debra A. Roma
Trainer Richard Mandella wants to make sure Omaha Beach's throat is completely healed before he begins training again.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Omaha Beach could resume training by the end of the week after his summer schedule was disrupted over the weekend by illness, trainer Richard Mandella said.

Widely considered one of the nation’s leading 3-year-olds, Omaha Beach will miss a scheduled start in the $100,000 Shared Belief Stakes for 3-year-olds at a mile at Del Mar on Sunday. Mandella said on Sunday that Omaha Beach had shown improvement over the weekend and that a blood test “was good.”

Sun, 08/18/2019 - 16:18

Regal Glory, Varenka could see rematch at Keeneland

Barbara D. Livingston
Varenka (left) and Regal Glory could be rematched in the Grade 1 QE II this fall at Keeneland.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Somewhat lost in all the commotion surrounding the prevailing weather conditions, breathtaking ending, and ultimate controversy over the final result of the photo finish was the fact both Varenka and Regal Glory ran their eyeballs out before dead-heating for first in Saturday’s Grade 2 Lake Placid.

Sun, 08/18/2019 - 15:45

Elate, Channel Maker work in company for weekend stakes

Barbara D. Livingston
Elate (left) and Channel Maker are bound, respectively, for the Personal Ensign and Sword Dancer on Saturday.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Elate, the 2017 Alabama winner, worked a solid half-mile in 48.44 seconds Sunday morning over the Oklahoma training track in preparation for a start in Saturday’s Grade 1, $700,000 Personal Ensign Stakes.

Sun, 08/18/2019 - 15:34

Dunbar Road could face older in next start

Barbara D. Livingston
Dunbar Road was assigned a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 94 for her win in the Alabama.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Dunbar Road came out of her victory in Saturday’s Grade 1 Alabama in good order, and while trainer Chad Brown said the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Santa Anita is a likely year-end goal, how he gets the 3-year-old filly there is undetermined.

“We never really planned beyond the Alabama,” Brown, who trains Dunbar Road for owner Peter Brant, said Sunday morning.

Sun, 08/18/2019 - 14:34

Sadler mapping route to BC Classic for Higher Power

Emily Shields
Higher Power earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 107 for his victory in Saturday's Pacific Classic.

DEL MAR, Calif. – The lawn jockey in the center of the paddock at Del Mar for the past year has been painted in the colors of Hronis Racing, who won last year’s Pacific Classic with Accelerate. After Saturday’s win by Higher Power, there’s no need to ask Sherwin Williams.

“We saved them money,” trainer John Sadler said Sunday morning. “They don’t need to paint it.”