BENSALEM, Pa. – The gate to the Parx main track by the half-mile pole was still closed as Maximum Security, escorted by a pony, made his way down the horse path.
As a maintenance man went to slide the gate open, trainer Jason Servis instructed exercise rider Alvaro Tomas to take Maximum Security further down the path.
“I just want to get my horse on the track,” Servis said in a tone belying his easy-going manner.
FRANKLIN, Ky. – Besides the two Dueling Grounds stakes for 3-year-olds, the Sunday card at turf-only Kentucky Downs also will feature a trio of designated preps toward the 2019 Claiming Crown at Gulfstream Park.
All three of the $100,000 races are restricted to horses that have raced for a claiming tag of $25,000 or less since Jan. 1, 2018. Unlike with most other Kentucky Downs races, there are no purse restrictions in regard to the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund.
Jockey Drayden Van Dyke, unseated from Eight Rings in Monday’s Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity, was released from a San Diego area hospital on Wednesday and is targeting a return to riding for the start of the Santa Anita autumn meeting on Sept. 27.
Van Dyke was unseated when Eight Rings ducked sharply to the inside a furlong into the seven-furlong Del Mar Futurity. Eight Rings bumped Storm the Court, who stepped on the fallen Van Dyke’s right arm in the incident, the rider said.
A plethora of jockeys will be serving days at the start of the Belmont fall meeting.
Irad Ortiz Jr., the leading rider in the country in wins and purse money won, will start a five-day suspension Friday for an infraction that occurred in the sixth race on July 5 at Belmont. Ortiz was aboard Bacchanalia, who finished fourth but interfered with fifth-place finisher Madame Orbe. Though there was a stewards’ inquiry into the incident, the order of finish was not changed.
Ortiz will be eligible to return Sept. 13.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Steve Asmussen said that plans have not yet been firmed up for Basin, Shoplifted, and Gozilla, the first three finishers from Monday’s Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga.
Asmussen would like to keep the three separated, and there are three Grade 1 stakes for 2-year-olds in late September and early October – the American Pharoah on Sept. 27 at Santa Anita, and the Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland and the Grade 1 Champagne at Belmont, both on Oct. 5.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Christophe Clement hopes to carry the momentum of an extremely successful Saratoga meet into the fall.
Clement won 13 races at Saratoga, five with his 2-year-olds. Clement’s only better Saratoga meet came in 2015 when he won 15 races.
“Obviously, we have a nice group of 2-year-olds, which is fun,” Clement said Wednesday morning at Belmont Park. “I’m working with my son [Miguel], my team – it’s very rewarding.”
Gross all-sources wagering at the Ellis Park meet that ended Monday was up 18 percent over 2018 despite the western Kentucky track hosting two fewer dates, according to figures released Wednesday.
The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission reported total wagering of $47,682,201 on the 27-day meet, up substantially over 2018, when 29 dates were run. The per-day average was $1,766,007, up nearly 24 percent.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Trainer Roger Attfield said the unbeaten 2-year-old Mr. Hustle will miss the Grade 1 Summer here Sept. 15 due a minor setback.
“Mr. Hustle is going to have some time off,” Attfield said. “He’s run three times. He’s a nice horse, and I’ve got to look after him.”
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Canadian Millions Sales Stakes Night, which included an array of stakes for graduates of local yearling sales here Aug. 28, featured another stellar effort from the incomparable Pink Lloyd, Canada’s 2017 Horse of the Year.
Pink Lloyd notched his fifth consecutive stakes while winning the six-furlong Kenora for the third year in a row, over stablemate Circle of Friends. His final time of 1:08.28 was just .23 of a second off his own synthetic-track record, and he got a 98 Beyer Speed Figure.
