DEL MAR, Calif. – Omaha Beach, who was briefly out of training earlier this month because of illness, resumed galloping at Del Mar on Saturday morning in advance of an expected return to racing next month.
“He had a good gallop,” trainer Richard Mandella said. “He was full of it. His nose was clean and he didn’t cough. We’re going on.”
DEL MAR, Calif. – Schrodinger, the winner of a maiden special weight race in his debut at Los Alamitos on June 30, has been taken out of training because of injury and will not start in the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity on Sept. 2.
“He’s going to go to the farm for a little bit,” trainer Simon Callaghan said on Saturday morning. “It’s a soft tissue injury.”
Callaghan said Schrodinger will be sidelined for approximately 90 days.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Vino Rosso may have convinced his connections to run him in the Grade 1, $750,000 Woodward Stakes next Saturday at Saratoga with a very strong five-furlong workout Friday morning over the main track.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Green Light Go, authoritative winner of his first two starts, including the Grade 2 Saratoga Special here on Aug. 10, will come back in three weeks and run in the Grade 1, $350,000 Hopeful Stakes here on Sept. 2, trainer Jimmy Jerkens said.
Initially, Jerkens was going to wait for the Grade 1 Champagne, a one-turn mile at Belmont on Oct. 5, but felt that might have been too much time between races.
“Couldn’t really think of a good reason not to run,” Jerkens said Friday. “To go a mile you got to train the [heck] out of them.”
DEL MAR, Calif. – The Del Mar-based Restrainedvengence, a fast-closing third in the Grade 3 Longacres Mile at Emerald Downs on Aug. 11, is likely to make his next start outside of Southern California. Friday, trainer Val Brinkerhoff was trying to determine where.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Comical, a 2-year-old filly trained by Doug O’Neill, had an unceremonious end to her undefeated record with a last-place finish in the Grade 2 Sorrento Stakes at six furlongs at Del Mar on Aug. 3.
The winner of the Grade 3 Schuylerville Stakes in the mud at Saratoga on July 11, Comical disputed the pace on the backstretch in the Sorrento, then faded rapidly through the stretch.
DEL MAR, Calif. – The California Horse Racing Board on Thursday approved a radically different racing calendar than in recent years for the Southern California Thoroughbred circuit in 2020.
The 2020 schedule calls for additional dates for Santa Anita; fewer dates for Los Alamitos; an additional weekend of racing at Del Mar during summer; and 13-day stretches in summer and winter with no racing.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Nucky, the easy winner of a $100,000 claimer for maidens at Del Mar on Wednesday, will not be idle for long. Trainer Peter Miller said on Thursday that Nucky is a candidate for the Grade 1 Runhappy Del Mar Futurity at seven furlongs on Sept. 2, the closing day of the summer meeting.
Nucky won the six-furlong race by 10 1/2 lengths under jockey Flavien Prat, the rider’s fourth win of the day. Nucky disputed the early lead from an outside post and took a commanding lead in early stretch. He was timed in 1:10.89 and earned a 78 Beyer Speed Figure.
DEL MAR, Calif. – The ex-claimer Two Thirty Five became a stakes winner in Wednesday’s $89,201 Harry Brubaker Stakes at Del Mar.
Now the team behind the 5-year-old gelding – owners Tom Mansor, Tammi Nielsen, Kim Rasmussen, and trainer Richard Baltas – face a decision on how ambitious to be in the next few months.
One option is the Grade 1 Awesome Again Stakes at 1 1/8 miles at Santa Anita on Sept. 28, a race that could draw the top older horse McKinzie and leading 3-year-olds Game Winner and Omaha Beach.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Trainer Mark Cloutier was thrilled when Explode crossed the finish line a neck behind Journeyman in the Grade 3, $250,000 Canadian Derby last Sunday at Century Mile.
“I was so proud of the way Explode battled in the stretch,” Cloutier said.
Then he heard announcer Dan Jukich say the stewards were looking at the stretch run where Journeyman, under left-handed whipping by Dane Nelson, drifted out and repeatedly bumped Explode, ridden by Amadeo Perez.
