DEL MAR, Calif. – Bast, romping winner of the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante on Saturday, came out of the race well and will be pointed to the Grade 1 Chandelier Stakes at Santa Anita on that meet’s opening day, Sept. 27, trainer Bob Baffert said Sunday.
The Chandelier is the West’s major prep for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, and this year it takes on added significance as it will be run at the same distance and over the same track as the Breeders’ Cup five weeks later.
If he thought he could get him into the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile without running again, trainer Jeremiah Englehart would likely wait to run Three Technique until then. But knowing it typically takes points earned in graded stakes races to get into the Juvenile field, Englehart will likely point the impressive maiden winner to the Grade 1 Champagne at Belmont Park on Oct. 5.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – With limited options for 3-year-old filly sprinters, trainer Chad Brown will have some decisions to make when it comes to selecting the next start for Grade 2 Prioress Stakes winner Royal Charlotte.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Preservationist, game winner of Saturday’s Grade 1, $750,000 Woodward Stakes at Saratoga, was scheduled on Tuesday to ship back to his downstate base of Belmont Park where his connections hope to start him in the Grade 1, $750,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup on Sept. 28.
As for the Breeders’ Cup Classic, well, while it hasn’t been totally ruled out, it doesn’t seem a high priority for Donald Little Jr., president of Centennial Farms, owners of Preservationist.
DEL MAR, Calif. – The 2019 Grade 1 winners Ollie’s Candy and Roadster worked at Del Mar on Saturday in preparation for autumn races.
Ollie’s Candy, the winner of the Grade 1 Clement Hirsch Stakes for fillies and mares on July 28, worked five furlongs in 59.80 seconds for a scheduled start in the Grade 1 Zenyatta Stakes at 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita on Sept. 28.
The main goal is the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Santa Anita on Nov. 2. Ollie’s Candy earned a fees-paid berth to the BC Distaff with her win in the Clement Hirsch Stakes.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Amalfi Sunrise, the winner of the Grade 2 Sorrento Stakes at Del Mar on Aug. 3, has been hospitalized with pneumonia at a San Diego county veterinary clinic and will not race again this year.
Trainer Simon Callaghan said on Saturday that Amalfi Sunrise was taken to the clinic in the middle of the week and that the illness is severe enough to eliminate plans for racing in coming months.
“It will be next year,” he said. “Her temperature is consistent. She’s on antibiotics.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – A Thread of Blue, who upset the $1 million Saratoga Derby here on Aug. 4, worked a half-mile in 48.78 seconds Friday morning over Saratoga’s main track in preparation for a start in next Saturday’s inaugural $1 million Jockey Club Derby at Belmont Park.
Under exercise rider Rob Massey, A Thread of Blue went his opening quarter in 24.28 seconds and his final quarter in 24.50 while galloping out five furlongs in 1:02.96.
The Saratoga Derby was run at 1 3/16 miles. The Jockey Club Derby will be run at 1 1/2 miles.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – By Your Side won the Grade 3 Sanford Stakes by three lengths as the favorite here on July 13. When he runs back in Monday’s Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes, By Your Side could be one of the longer prices in the seven-horse field.
A lot of intriguing 2-year-olds have won at Saratoga since By Your Side’s victory, and many of them will show up in the Hopeful, the closing-day feature at Saratoga.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Orsay, who brought $1.2 million as a yearling last summer at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale, will make her debut in Sunday’s eighth race at Saratoga going seven furlongs.
Orsay, a daughter of 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah out of the Grade 1-winning mare Life At Ten, topped the opening session of the two-night sale. She was purchased by Larry Best’s OXO Equine and is trained by Chad Brown.
Former trainer Bill Badgett said he will resign as vice president of Gulfstream Park effective at the end of September.
Badgett, who has worked for Gulfstream’s owner, the Stronach Group, for the past five years, said Friday that “he just needed a little bit of a break after going seven days a week, 365 days a year.”
Badgett said he is uncertain what he might do next, noting he has received several offers.
“I’m just tired and want to take some time off to figure things out before deciding what to pursue next,” Badgett said.
