DEL MAR, Calif. – La Force, the winner of the Grade 2 Santa Maria Stakes at Santa Anita on June 1, is a candidate for the Grade 2 John Mabee Stakes on turf on Aug. 31, co-owner Chuck Winner said over the weekend.
La Force was third in the Grade 1 Clement Hirsch Stakes at 1 1/16 miles for fillies and mares on dirt on July 28, finishing 5 1/4 lengths behind Ollie’s Candy.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Lazy Daisy and Comical had opposite results for trainer Doug O’Neill in separate races on Saturday at Del Mar, but they remain the stable’s hopes for the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante on Aug. 31.
Comical finished last of six as the 2-1 favorite in the Grade 2 Sorrento Stakes, fighting for the lead from a rail position under jockey Julien Leparoux before fading from contention in the final furlong. She finished 12 1/2 lengths behind the impressive race winner Amalfi Sunrise.
At the beginning of the year, trainer Brad Cox made the Test his goal for Covfefe and the daughter of Into Mischief achieved it Saturday, outfinishing the Kentucky Oaks winner Serengeti Empress to win the race Grade 1 fixture for 3-year-old fillies by a half-length.
Now, Cox said Sunday, he is in no hurry to come up with a plan for Covfefe’s next start.
“We put a lot into her to get ready for this race, I’m just going to take a deep breath, I’m going to let Covfefe take a deep breath,” Cox said. “This was the goal.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – With a signature victory in Saturday’s Grade 1 Whitney Stakes on his résumé and a berth in the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic in November secured, McKinzie was scheduled to head home to California on Monday and he might not have to leave the state for the remainder of the year.
Trainer Bob Baffert said he would likely run McKinzie one more time before the BC Classic, scheduled for Nov. 2 at Santa Anita. By process of elimination, the Grade 1, $300,000 Awesome Again Stakes at Santa Anita on Sept. 28 might make the most sense.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Jockey Norberto Arroyo Jr. received a 10-day suspension from the Del Mar stewards on Saturday for causing interference in Friday’s $100,351 Graduation Stakes that led to the disqualification of his mount from first to third, his third suspension in a little more than two weeks.
Michael Wrona will replace Ed Burgart as the year-round announcer at Los Alamitos beginning in December, the track announced Friday.
Wrona, 53, will begin calling races at Los Alamitos during the track’s two-week daytime Thoroughbred meeting that begins Dec. 5 and will start calling the night-time Quarter Horse and lower-level Thoroughbred meeting on Dec. 27.
The Quarter Horse and Thoroughbred meeting operates year-round on a Friday-through-Sunday basis.
Burgart is retiring as track announcer Dec. 15, having held the position since the early 1980s.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – With an eye toward stakes on the Aug. 24 Travers Day card, trainer Dale Romans put a trio of horses through workouts Friday morning at Saratoga.
Everfast, the Preakness runner-up who is pointing to the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers, worked a half-mile in 48.55 seconds. He went his opening quarter in 24.16 and galloped out five furlongs in 1:02.62. He is coming off a fourth-place finish in the Haskell Invitational on July 20 at Monmouth Park.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Jeremiah Englehart seems flush with 2-year-olds, particularly fillies.
Already at this meet, he has won maiden races with the fillies Risky Mischief and Sweet Kisses. The juvenile filly My Italian Rabbi, a maiden winner at Belmont, won the Stillwater Stakes here. For good measure, the colt Cleon Jones won his maiden here July 28.
In Sunday’s first race at Saratoga, Englehart will send out another highly-regarded runner in Daphne Moon, a daughter of Cairo Prince.
DEL MAR, Calif. – A day after he was removed from his mounts by the board of stewards, jockey Norberto Arroyo Jr. received a court order from a San Diego Superior Court judge on Friday allowing him to resume riding at Del Mar until recent drug tests can be analyzed by a California Horse Racing Board-sanctioned lab.
Hit the Beach won’t mind the move back to a sprint and some class relief when he runs in a first-level allowance race that has a $50,000 claiming option Sunday at Emerald Downs. The six-furlong dash for 3-years-olds and up drew seven horses and appears to be a wide-open event.
