SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Code of Honor, winner of the Grade 3 Dwyer Stakes at Belmont on July 6, worked a half-mile in 47.96 seconds over the Oklahoma training track Sunday morning as he continues preparations for the Grade 1 Travers on Aug. 24.
Code of Honor worked outside of 2018 Discovery winner Plainsman, formerly trained by Brad Cox. The pair went their first quarter in 24.00 seconds, final quarter in 23.96, and out five furlongs in 1:01.46.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Even on a relatively quiet morning in Saratoga, the stars come out to play.
Mitole, winner of the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap, and Midnight Bisou, the leading older filly and mare in training, with five graded stakes wins this year, both put in workouts early Monday morning in preparation for upcoming stakes engagements, most likely at Saratoga.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Sunday’s Del Mar feature is the Grade 3, $100,000 Rancho Bernardo Handicap for female sprinters at 6 1/2 furlongs.
Anonymity, second in the race last year, is expected to be the co-highweight along with Danuska’s My Girl. Both were assigned 121 pounds, four fewer than Marley’s Freedom, who is expected to bypass the race for a start at Saratoga later in the month.
Anonymity was second and Danuska’s My Girl fourth behind Marley’s Freedom in the Grade 2 Great Lady M. last month at Los Alamitos.
DEL MAR, Calif. – The Best Pal on Saturday is the final prep for the Grade 1, $300,000 Del Mar Futurity on closing day, Sept. 2. The Futurity favorite may have been revealed on Sunday at Del Mar when Eight Rings scored an overpowering victory in his debut, earning a Beyer Speed Figure of 94.
Eight Rings, a son of Empire Maker, was purchased as a yearling for $520,000 by a partnership of SF Racing, Madaket Stables, and Starlight Racing, which sent a score of 2-year-olds to trainer Bob Baffert this year.
“He looked good, didn’t he?” Baffert said.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Fresh off a victory with Amalfi Sunrise in the Sorrento Stakes for 2-year-old fillies last Saturday, trainer Simon Callaghan will try to add the Grade 2, $200,000 Best Pal Stakes for 2-year-olds this Saturday at Del Mar with Schrodinger, who like Amalfi Sunrise makes his stakes debut following a first-out win against maidens.
Schrodinger was 2-5 when he beat five rivals at Los Alamitos going five furlongs on June 30. The Best Pal is at six furlongs.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The connections of Got Stormy were so impressed by the way their filly drew off to win Saturday’s De La Rose Stakes at Saratoga that they turned right around and made her a supplemental nominee for Saturday’s Grade 1 Fourstardave.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – A Thread of Blue, upset winner of Sunday’s $1 million Saratoga Derby at 1 3/16 miles, could try and stretch out to 1 1/2 miles in the $1 million Jockey Club Derby at Belmont on Sept. 7.
A Thread of Blue got loose on the lead in the Saratoga Derby and was able to hold off Digital Age by a length. He covered 1 3/16 miles under Luis Saez in 1:52.02 and earned a career-best 95 Beyer.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Rusty Arnold will be a busy man on Sept. 7, with horses to run in stakes at Belmont Park and Kentucky Downs.
Arnold plans to run Concrete Rose at Belmont Park in the $750,000 Jockey Club Oaks, the third and final leg of the New York Racing Association’s Turf Trinity for 3-year-old fillies. At Kentucky Downs, he will have Leinster for the Grade 3, $700,000 Kentucky Downs Turf Sprint and Morticia for the Grade 3, $500,000 Ladies Sprint at 6 1/2 furlongs.
“It’s a very good problem to have. We’ll figure out how to work it out,” Arnold said.
Even when he gets away from Saratoga, Ian Wilkes can’t seem to get away from fellow trainer Chad Brown.
Wilkes is dispatching the promising 3-year-old colt Ry’s the Guy to the Grade 1 Secretariat Stakes on Saturday at Arlington Park, where Brown will be front and center with two of the likely favorites, Fog of War and Valid Point. The Secretariat is being run at one mile for the first time in a significant reduction from its traditional distance of 1 1/4 miles.
Thunder Snow will be pointed to the Grade 1 Woodward on Aug. 31 after scratching from Saturday's Whitney due to an elevated temperature diagnosed following a brief training session the morning of the race.
While trainer Saeed bin Suroor returned to England, Thunder Snow remained in Saratoga, moving from the quarantine barn on the Oklahoma side of Saratoga to the Greentree training facility adjacent to the backstretch of the main track. Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum, owner of Thunder Snow, owns the Greentree property.
