Art G Is Back continued his ascent on the South Florida racing circuit in the $100,000 Benny the Bull last Saturday at Gulfstream Park, but trainer Ron Spatz is determined to further expand the horizons of the 3-year-old colt.
Art G Is Back, owned by Monarch Stables, earned a career-high 95 Beyer Speed Figure in winning the $100,000 Benny the Bull at seven furlongs on the main track, but Spatz said turf is next for the gray son of Exchange Rate.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Fore Left, who was third in the Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes at Del Mar on Aug. 10, worked five furlongs from the gate in 1:01.80 a little after 8 a.m. on Sunday.
The workout was not only designed to prepare Fore Left for the Grade 1 Runhappy Del Mar Futurity on Sept. 2, but to give the promising runner a chance to work while wearing blinkers. The equipment will be added for the $300,000 Del Mar Futurity at seven furlongs.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Less than 24 hours after her popular and impressive 3 1/2-length victory in the Grade 1 Ballerina, Come Dancing stood at the front of her stall in trainer Carlos Martin’s barn late Sunday morning looking bright and fresh and ready to have at it again. But if Martin has his say, there may be only one more dance left on the 5-year-old’s dance card, the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Santa Anita on Nov. 2.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The victory by Annals of Time in Saturday’s Grade 1 Sword Dancer Stakes at Saratoga gave trainer Chad Brown some options to consider as he plots out the future for not only that horse, but the leading older male turf horse Bricks and Mortar.
Annals of Time’s neck victory over Sadler’s Joy came in his first try at 1 1/2 miles. Prior to this year, Annals of Time had won races from a mile to 1 1/8 miles. This puts the Breeders’ Cup Turf in play for Annals of Time with a likely start in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at Belmont Park on Oct. 5 beforehand.
DEL MAR, Calif. – The 2019 Del Mar summer meeting does not end until Labor Day and already it has been a milestone season for trainer John Sadler.
Sadler’s stable, backed largely by Pete and Kosta Hronis, has won eight stakes, enough to surpass the late Hall of Famer Charlie Whittingham for third place on the track’s all-time list with 75 wins. Bob Baffert leads all trainers with 130 stakes wins, while Ron McAnally is second with 77.
Sadler may catch McAnally before the meeting ends.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – If Midnight Bisou was knocked out from her all-out effort winning Saturday’s Grade 1, $700,000 Personal Ensign Stakes at Saratoga, she wasn’t showing it Sunday morning.
“She’s very proud of herself this morning,” trainer Steve Asmussen said. “She was in front of her stall wanting her admiration even though you know the effort she gave.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Mitole’s dominant three-length victory in Saturday’s Grade 1, $600,000 Forego Stakes put him back atop the male sprint division. He will try to clinch a championship in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Santa Anita on Nov. 2, which, trainer Steve Asmussen said, will “most likely” be his next start.
Asmussen had thought about running Mitole back in the Vosburgh at Belmont but said “off that fast of a race” it might be better to wait.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Gregg Sacco registered his first career Grade 1 win here last summer when Mind Control upset the Hopeful, an experience he called “really special and very meaningful” at the time.
One year later, Sacco was back in the Saratoga winner’s circle Control celebrating his second Grade 1 victory after Mind Control rallied to the narrowest of victories over Hog Creek Hustle and 1-5 favorite Shancelot in the H. Allen Jerkens – an experience Sacco described as “even better” than the Hopeful.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – It was somewhat fitting that after the dust settled from the celebration of Code of Honor’s victory in Saturday’s Grade 1, $1.25 million Runhappy Travers Stakes, Jason Servis was standing in the winner’s circle at Saratoga.
Servis, who won the race after the Travers with the New York-bred Dowse’s Beach, is the trainer of Maximum Security, who despite not running in the Travers had his credentials for a possible 3-year-old championship bolstered by the results of the race.
A pair of qualifiers for the $3 million All American Futurity – Apollitical J Wild and Dynasty Dinamo – are ineligible to enter back in next month’s Quarter Horse classic at Ruidoso Downs after each returned a positive hair test for albuterol and was placed on the stewards’ list for 60 days, Izzy Trejo, executive director of the New Mexico Racing Commission, said Saturday.
