DEL MAR, Calif. – Express Train had a narrow lead on the backstretch of a maiden special weight race at a mile at Del Mar on Wednesday when the heavily favored colt was briefly passed by a longshot rival.
The deficit was quickly reversed. With minimal urging by jockey Mike Smith, Express Train regained the lead and had a one-length advantage with a quarter-mile remaining. Express Train won by 14 1/4 lengths over Can’tbetemall, a 40-1 outsider who had led momentarily.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – A majority interest in the 2-year-old Bellavia, who finished second to Tumbling Sky in a highly regarded maiden race here on Aug. 10 has been sold, and the son of Honor Code has been transferred to trainer Todd Pletcher.
Robert LaPenta and Sol Kumin’s Madaket Stables headed a group that partnered to buy a 70 percent interest in Bellavia. His previous owners, Randy Bradshaw and Fred Rosen, have retained a minority share. The horse was trained by Jena Antonucci.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Lady Montdore and Santa Monica, the one-two finishers last year, are back to battle each other in Saturday’s 24th renewal of the Grade 3 Glens Falls Stakes, 1 3/8-mile turf race for fillies and mares that is worth $250,000.
Lady Montdore, a 5-year-old mare trained by Tom Albertani, is winless in four starts since the Glens Falls. One of those losses was a fourth-place finish to Santa Monica in the Grade 2 Sheepshead Bay at Belmont in May.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The connections of Vino Rosso have elected to use Saturday’s Grade 1, $750,000 Woodward Stakes as a springboard to the Breeders’ Cup Classic in November rather than wait for the Jockey Club Gold Cup next month at Belmont Park.
Vino Rosso was one of three horses trainer Todd Pletcher entered Wednesday for Saturday’s Woodward. Pletcher also entered Wooderson and Bal Harbour.
Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico is gearing up for its closing weekend, which features the $1.5 million All American Derby on Sunday and the $3 million All American Futurity on Monday. The Quarter Horse classics will be supported by a number of stakes, including some for Thoroughbreds.
“The town goes from about 7,500 in the winter to about 40,000 this weekend,” said Jeff True, president of Ruidoso. “The first Monday in September is our first Saturday in May. The whole town comes together to make this happen.”
Wings Locked Up, a $25,000 claim who went on to win five stakes for Sad Sac Racing, has been retired, trainer Clinton Stuart said Monday.
The 7-year-old gelding by Munnings won 19 races from 58 starts and earned $645,132. His most recent stakes win came in January in the $75,000 Frontier Utilities Turf Sprint at Sam Houston Race Park. Wings Locked Up also won stakes at Canterbury Park and Prairie Meadows and set a track record at Remington Park.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Leucothea, winner of a $62,500 claiming race for maiden fillies by 14 1/2 lengths on Aug. 15, was supplemented to Saturday’s Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante at a cost of $10,000 on Wednesday.
The $300,000 Del Mar Debutante is run at seven furlongs and is the championship race for 2-year-old fillies at the track’s summer meeting.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Roy H, the champion sprinter for the last two years, is unlikely to have a prep race in advance of an intended start in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint on Nov. 2 at Santa Anita, trainer Peter Miller said.
Miller said Wednesday that Roy H is doubtful for the Grade 1 Santa Anita Sprint Championship on Oct. 5.
“I think we’re running out of time for the Santa Anita Sprint,” Miller said.
Robby Albarado is set to return to action Saturday at Kentucky Downs after being sidelined 10 weeks by a wrist injury suffered in a June 23 spill at Churchill Downs. Albarado, 45, has a new agent in Rocco O’Connor, who has served this summer as the paddock analyst at Ellis while continuing to represent jockey Chantal Sutherland.
Before the spill, Albarado, a winner of 5,188 races in a career of nearly three decades, had Jake Romans as his agent. Romans is working for Martin Chuan and Channing Hill.
Hall of Fame jockey Calvin Borel is scheduled to appear in a Harrison County, Ind., court on Oct. 1 on charges of driving while intoxicated following his arrest Sunday night on his way home to Louisville after riding at Ellis Park.
Borel’s agent, Steve Krajcir, said the jockey stopped at a White Castle “for one hamburger” on exit 105 of Interstate 64 in Corydon when he was apprehended by police for making a wrong turn.
