Sun, 06/02/2019 - 16:22

Belmont Stakes clocker: Smooth final work for Tacitus

Barbara D. Livingston
Tacitus (left), sent out in company with Tide of the Sea, covered five furlongs in 1:00.31 over the main track Sunday morning at Belmont Park.

Belmont Park
Weather: Fog/Cloudy 
Temperature: 65   
Track: Fast

Sun, 06/02/2019 - 16:01

Maximum Security puts in work, might go in Pegasus Stakes

Ryan Denver/EQUI-PHOTO
Maximum Security works under exercise rider Edelberto Rivas at Monmouth Park on Sunday.

Trainer Jason Servis worked Maximum Security on Sunday at Monmouth Park, his second serious piece of exercise since the Kentucky Derby.

In typical Servis style, Maximum Security two-minute licked a mile and then galloped out an extra furlong. The Monmouth Park clockers did not credit him with an official workout.

On May 22, in his first work since the Derby, Maximum Security went through a similar exercise regimen, with clockers giving him a time of 53.80 seconds for the final four furlongs of his first mile.

Sun, 06/02/2019 - 13:58

Brown works eight turfers, including five for Saturday stakes at Belmont

Coady Photography/Keeneland
Saturday's Jenny Wiley marked Rushing Fall's fourth stakes win at Keeneland.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Two by two by two by two they went, one pair starting off slowly just as another was finishing fast, millions and millions of dollars of Chad Brown-trained horseflesh working on the Belmont Park turf course Sunday morning.

Five of the eight horses race here Saturday on the Belmont Stakes undercard: Rushing Fall starts in the Grade 1 Just A Game, and four others – Bricks and Mortar, Olympico, Raging Bull, and Robert Bruce – go in the Grade 1 Manhattan.

Sun, 06/02/2019 - 13:31

Belmont Stakes: All smiles from Team Tacitus

Barbara D. Livingston
Tacitus, under jockey Jose Ortiz, breezes five furlongs in 1:00.31 on Sunday at Belmont Park.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Bill Mott was watching a handful of horses complete workouts on the Belmont Park training track Sunday morning when jockey Jose Ortiz walked up to stand alongside him. Mott and Ortiz exchanged their thoughts on what had happened about an hour earlier on the main track when Ortiz guided the Mott-trained Tacitus through his final workout in preparation for Saturday’s $1.5 million Belmont Stakes.

Sat, 06/01/2019 - 15:44

Belmont Stakes clocker: Spinoff, Intrepid Heart solid in gallop-outs

Barbara D. Livingston
Spinoff worked in company Saturday with maiden winner Principled, the pair completing five furlongs in 1:02.22.

Belmont Park
Saturday, June 1, 2019
Weather: Clear 
Temperature:  67   
Track: Fast

ELMONT, N.Y. – Conditions were about as perfect as they could get on the main track when Spinoff, Intrepid Heart and Tax turned in their final major preps for the Belmont Stakes following the renovation break shortly before 9:00 a.m. Saturday at Belmont Park.

Sat, 06/01/2019 - 15:26

Newspaperofrecord to face only four in Wonder Again Stakes

Barbara D. Livingston
Newspaperofrecord will face just six foes in Friday's Grade 3 Edgewood.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Newspaperofrecord, who suffered her first defeat in the Grade 3 Edgewood Stakes at Churchill Downs last month, will be heavily favored to make amends in Thursday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Wonder Again Stakes at Belmont Park.

Sat, 06/01/2019 - 13:44

Gargan rethinking Belmont Stakes start for Tax following Saturday work

Barbara D. Livingston
Tax covered a half-mile in 48.81 on Saturday morning at Belmont Park.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Danny Gargan was hoping to see a little more from Tax than he did in a Saturday morning workout at Belmont Park and now the Withers winner’s status for the $1.5 million Belmont Stakes is in limbo.

Fri, 05/31/2019 - 19:55

Los Alamitos cuts summer meet from 12 days to 10

Benoit Photo
Los Alamitos has room for more than 350 Thoroughbreds that need a place to train.

Los Alamitos received approval from the California Horse Racing Board on Friday to reduce its upcoming summer meeting from 12 racing days to 10 in an effort to ensure all programs draw sufficient horses, track vice-president Jack Liebau said.

Los Alamitos will open its three-week summer meeting on Saturday, June 29, two days later than scheduled. There will be two days of racing on June 29-30, and four-day racing weeks from July 4-7 and 11-14.

“It’s a done deal,” Liebau said. “I think this will work.”

Fri, 05/31/2019 - 15:30

Retired trainer, radio host Roger Stein dead at age 65

ARCADIA, Calif. – Roger Stein, a retired trainer who was well known as the host of a long-running racing radio program, died Friday following a lengthy illness, according to his brother Rick Stein.

Roger Stein was 65. He died at his home in Hidden Hills, Calif.

Fri, 05/31/2019 - 15:20

Casse barn to be active at Belmont Stakes Racing Festival

Barbara D. Livingston
Mark Casse is based at Saratoga for the first time since 2012.

ELMONT, N.Y. – In addition to running War of Will and Sir Winston in the Belmont Stakes, trainer Mark Casse will have plenty of other action to keep him busy during the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, which consists of 18 stakes over three days beginning Thursday.