DEL MAR, Calif. – Del Mar sustained significant declines in average attendance and handle through the first two weeks of the seven-week summer meeting, according to data provided by the racetrack.
Through Sunday, the 10th day of the 36-day season, all-sources handle averaged $11,863,783, down 14.3 percent compared to $13,850,047 in a similar period in 2018.
Ontrack handle declined 16.4 percent, from $1,877,307 to $1,568,956.
Ontrack attendance is down 9.7 percent, from 15,195 to 13,715.
Runaway Ghost had been pointed to the $200,000 Downs at Albuquerque Handicap on Saturday night, but instead will sit out the rest of the year with a soft-tissue injury.
“We went for minor surgery,” trainer Todd Fincher said. “Very minor soft-tissue damage. Everything went real well.”
Runaway Ghost will be given proper time to rehab, and the intent is a return to racing during the first quarter of next year, according to Fincher.
Runaway Ghost, 4, is a winner of more than $750,000 for his breeder and owner, Joe Peacock.
DEL MAR, Calif. – One Bad Boy, winner of the Queen’s Plate at Woodbine in June, recently returned to trainer Richard Baltas’s stable at Del Mar and is a candidate for the Grade 2 Del Mar Derby on Sept. 1.
The $250,000 Del Mar Derby at 1 1/8 miles on turf would be the graded stakes debut for One Bad Boy, who was third in the Prince of Wales for Canadian-breds on July 23 at Fort Erie.
“We’ll look at that race if he bounces back,” Baltas said of the Del Mar Derby. “He’s very good on the turf.”
Jockey Gerard Melancon has had more stakes success on reigning Louisiana-bred of the year Monte Man than any other rider, and on Saturday the pair will be out to defend their title in the $50,000 Louisiana Cup Sprint at Louisiana Downs.
Melancon and Monte Man will be invading from Evangeline Downs, where they won the $75,000 Louisiana Legends Sprint on May 25. It was the fourth stakes race Melancon has won aboard Monte Man from five starts with the horse. The partnership dates to February 2018.
Grade 1 winner Bigger Picture is among the bigger names expected in action Sunday on a very busy Kentucky Downs Preview Day at Ellis Park in western Kentucky.
Trainer Mike Maker scratched Bigger Picture last Saturday from the Bowling Green at Saratoga to run the 8-year-old gelding in the 1 1/4-mile Turf Cup Preview, which is one of five $100,000 preps Sunday at Ellis for the five-day Kentucky Downs meet, which runs Aug. 31 to Sept. 12.
Ralph Nicks had hoped to make the Dr. Fager Stakes with Positively Awesome, but no such luck. Instead, Nicks will send out Liam’s Lucky Charm when the 2019 Florida Sire Stakes series gets under way Saturday at Gulfstream Park in South Florida.
Positively Awesome “came up with a little shin problem” after winning the Kodiak Island on closing day of the Gulfstream spring meet, Nicks said. “He’s a talented horse, and we’ll look forward to having him back for the fall.”
Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., will put on four $1 million races next year after announcing the purses for both the Oaklawn and Apple Blossom handicaps would hit the seven-figure mark for 2020. Those races will now stand alongside the $1 million Arkansas Derby and $1 million Rebel as the richest offerings of the meet.
Oaklawn, which has casino gaming and sports betting, plans to offer a total of 33 stakes during the 2020 season, which opens Jan. 24. Those races will be worth a track-record $10.7 million. The 57-date meet runs through May 2.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Improbable, idle since finishing sixth in the Preakness Stakes, is nearing a return to action following a sharp six-furlong drill in 1:12.60 on Tuesday at Del Mar.
“He went nice. He gets over this track really well,” said his trainer, Bob Baffert. “He was only going to go five furlongs, but he was going so well I had him go out six. Now we can start talking about where to run.”
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Jockey Leo Salles made quite a splash here last Friday when he guided three longshots to victory on the seven-race card, including the 70-1 bomb Tale of Vienna.
They weren’t the first outsiders on which he’s scored at the meet, and the nickname “Longshot Leo” has caught on. He won a $25,000 claimer aboard the struggling dropper Carmenootz at 9-1 on the Tapeta on July 7. Last Sunday on the grass, he recorded a front-running allowance score on Carmenootz, who paid $34 and earned a career-high 93 Beyer Speed Figure.
DEL MAR, Calif – Amalfi Sunrise, who got a Beyer Speed Figure of 88 in a debut win at Santa Anita on June 23, and Comical, winner of the Schuylerville Stakes at Saratoga on July 11, are the marquee names expected for the Grade 2, $200,000 Sorrento Stakes for 2-year-old fillies on Saturday.
Simon Callaghan, who trains Amalfi Sunrise, also will send out Shedaresthedevil. Others expected for the race are Powerfulattraction, Princess Mo, and Shanghai Kelly.
