SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Concrete Rose, authoritative winner of the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks three weeks ago, worked a half-mile in 48.92 seconds over the Oklahoma turf course Saturday morning in preparation for next Friday’s inaugural $750,000 Saratoga Oaks Invitational.
Concrete Rose went her opening quarter in 24.53 seconds and her final quarter in 24.39 with jockey Julien Leparoux not asking for anything from the four-time graded stakes winning filly. She galloped out five furlongs in 1:02.05.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Game Winner, the champion 2-year-old male of 2018, worked a half-mile in 48 seconds at Del Mar on Saturday, his first major exercise since an easy win in the Grade 3 Los Alamitos Derby on July 13.
Game Winner is scheduled to start in the Grade 1 Travers Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 24.
A San Diego County Superior Court Judge on Friday ruled in favor of trainer Jerry Hollendorfer in the Hall of Famer’s quest to receive a temporary injunction against Del Mar, which has prevented Hollendorfer from running horses at the current meeting, which began July 17.
Judge Ronald F. Frazier’s ruling said the request from Hollendorfer and co-plaintiff California Thoroughbred Trainers for a preliminary injunction would be granted with modification.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Jockey Flavien Prat, who led the standings at the Del Mar meeting through Thursday, begins a three-day suspension on Sunday for causing interference in the Daisycutter Handicap on turf on July 20.
Prat was cited for his ride on Painting Corners, who won the five-furlong race but drifted out through the stretch. Drayden Van Dyke, who finished second on S Y Sky, claimed foul against Painting Corners, but the stewards did not change the order of finish.
DEL MAR, Calif. – As pre-career expectations go, few scenarios at Del Mar this summer will be higher than what will accompany the 2-year-old filly Immediate Impact for her debut in Sunday’s first race.
Immediate Impact, by Into Mischief, is a half-sister to Arrogate, the 2016 champion 3-year-old male who won 7 of 11 starts and earned $17,422,600 in a two-year career.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Draft Pick, third in the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap on July 20, is a likely starter in the Grade 1, $1 million Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Aug. 17, the track’s richest race of the year.
Trained by Peter Eurton for Lee and Susan Searing, Draft Pick was beaten 2 1/4 lengths by winner Catalina Cruiser after disputing the pace to early stretch in the San Diego at 1 1/16 miles. The Pacific Classic is run at 1 1/4 miles.
“He came out of the race looking great,” Eurton said. “He likes this track.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Jose Camejo liked his most recent trip to Saratoga so much that he is making another one next week.
Camejo, who won Wednesday’s Grade 2 Honorable Miss with Minit to Stardom, supplemented Mr. Al’s Gal to next Wednesday’s $100,000 Shine Again Stakes going seven furlongs at Saratoga. The Shine Again, run at seven furlongs, is for fillies and mares who have not won an open stakes this year.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Wednesday’s cancellation following the fourth race had just about everybody around these parts singing the blues. But it could prove to be a blessing in disguise for the connections of Runaway Lute, who was excluded from Wednesday’s postponed John Morrissey Stakes due to a technicality, but will now have the opportunity to go back in the race when it’s redrawn and brought back Thursday.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Al Stall Jr. could easily have been tempted to try his injury prone but talented Tom’s d’Etat in next Saturday’s Grade 1 Whitney. After all, the 6-year-old son of Smart Strike is perfect in two starts at Saratoga and is coming off a game third-place finish behind Seeking the Soul in the Grade 2 Stephen Foster six weeks earlier at Churchill Downs.
A couple of last-out stakes winners are foremost among the 2-year-olds being pointed to the first six-figure stakes of the summer meet at Gulfstream Park in South Florida.
Positively Awesome, a 2 3/4-length winner of the June 30 Kodiak Island, and Lenzi’s Lucky Lady, a 5 1/4-length winner of the June 28 Golden Isles, head the prospective lineups for the six-furlong stakes – the $100,000 Dr. Fager for 2-year-olds and the $100,000 Desert Vixen for fillies, respectively – that kick off the annual Florida Sire Stakes series on Saturday, Aug. 3.
