DEL MAR, Calif. - A two-win day on Wednesday marked a successful start to the final week of the Del Mar summer season for Peter Miller, who is well clear in the trainer standings in advance of Monday’s closing day.
Miller is not coasting to the finish. Saturday, he has 11 runners in the first nine races on an 11-race program. Miller entered 18 horses, but some of the races didn't fill.
“I think 18 is a record for me,” Miller said.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Dream Tree, undefeated in four starts, returns from a seven-month layoff in Sunday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Prioress Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at six furlongs.
It will be the first start for Dream Tree since she won the Grade 2 La Virgenes going a mile at Santa Anita on Feb. 4.
“I wasn’t happy with the way she was training,” trainer Bob Baffert said. “She was losing interest, so I just stopped on her. She’s doing well now.”
A doubling of the purse for the Long Island Handicap and the addition of four new turf stakes for 2-year-olds highlight the changes to the Aqueduct fall stakes schedule released Thursday by the New York Racing Association.
The Long Island, a Grade 3 turf stakes for fillies and mares run at 1 3/8 miles, will now be worth $400,000 and will anchor the Nov. 24 card, which is the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It had been worth $200,000 and run on Breeders’ Cup Saturday, the first Saturday of November.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Good Magic emerged sick from his ninth-place finish as the 7-5 favorite in last Saturday’s Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers Stakes and, when healthy, will be shipped to Kentucky to undergo a full physical examination, trainer Chad Brown said Thursday.
Brown said blood tests taken following the Travers revealed that Good Magic had a significantly high white blood cell count. Brown said Good Magic has responded to antibiotics, and he hopes to ship him to Lexington, Ky., next week to “check him out head to toe.”
The annual September lovefest at Kentucky Downs gets going Saturday when four stakes anchor a 10-race opener.
Gigantic purses and a quaint country-fair atmosphere are among the turn-ons for horsemen and fans who will travel to the south-central turf-only track over the next two weeks, while simulcast bettors also will show their appreciation for the full fields and competitive racing that have become hallmarks at Kentucky Downs.
Dan Peitz enjoyed a terrific summer meet at Ellis Park by winning with six of his 13 starters, including winning a race a day Aug. 3-5. His $3.25 ROI (on a $2 wager) leads all trainers with at least 10 starts.
“Everything came together,” said Peitz, who has trained since 1987. “The races stayed on the grass, the horses got in, we got some great trips, and we won a photo or two. The racing gods were shining down on us.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Chad Brown entered three in Saturday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Glens Falls Stakes, a 1 3/8-mile turf stakes for fillies and mares.
Brown will go with the uncoupled trio of Homeland Security, winner of the River Memories Stakes at Belmont on July 8; Santa Monica, winner of the Grade 2 Dance Smartly at Woodbine on June 30; and Onthemoonagain, a French-bred 4-year-old filly who finished third in an allowance here on Aug. 2, her first start in 10 months.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Mark Casse got this summer off to a strong start when Catherinethegreat won the Grade 3 Schuylerville Stakes here on opening day. It has been nothing but frustration since.
Casse entered the final week of the Saratoga meet with 2 wins from 52 starters. He’s had 11 seconds and nine thirds.
“It’s been rough,” Casse said. “For the most part, the horses have run well, just can’t win. I’ve been down that road before. The difference is if it happens at Woodbine, no one pays attention.”
The heartfelt tributes to John Asher have absolutely poured in since the longtime vice president for racing communications at Churchill Downs died Monday at age 62 from an apparent heart attack while on a family vacation in Orlando, Fla.
