SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer D. Wayne Lukas has participated in 19 Travers over 30 years, winning three of them. The common denominator in those three? Toughness.
All three – Corporate Report (1991), Thunder Gulch (1995), and Will Take Charge (2013) – survived running in all three legs of the Triple Crown. They then had one race between the Belmont Stakes and the Travers.
“The ones I’ve had the best luck with is when I can really lean on them,” Lukas said.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – After experiencing a dream come true by getting to the Kentucky Derby earlier this year with Firenze Fire, owner Ron Lombardi and trainer Jason Servis focused on what would work best for the Grade 1 winner during the second half of his 3-year-old campaign. Thus far, that plan has worked out pretty well for the homebred son of Poseidon’s Warrior, who began his summer with an eye-catching victory in the Grade 3 Dwyer at Belmont Park.
DEL MAR, Calif. – John Sadler and Drayden Van Dyke, the hottest trainer and jockey at Del Mar last weekend, will team anew in two of the three stakes this weekend, including with Catalina Cruiser in what is shaping up as a terrific Grade 2, $200,000 Pat O’Brien Stakes on Saturday.
Catalina Cruiser, winner of the San Diego Handicap in his last start and unbeaten in three starts, will turn back to seven furlongs for the Pat O’Brien, which is a Win and You’re In for the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Churchill Downs on Nov. 3.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Spring Quality, winner of the Grade 1 Manhattan who was scratched out of the Arlington Million on Aug. 11, worked five furlongs in 1:02.50 Monday morning over the Oklahoma turf course in preparation for a start in Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Sword Dancer Stakes at Saratoga.
Spring Quality started two lengths behind stablemate Scholar Athlete and drew within a length after three furlongs in 38.78 seconds. The pair finished on even terms with Spring Quality shading 24 seconds in the final quarter.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Highway Star lost her left hind shoe during a half-mile workout in 46.80 seconds Monday morning over Saratoga’s main track and trainer Rodrigo Ubillo wanted to monitor her foot before committing to run in Saturday’s Grade 1 Ballerina Stakes.
The foot is the same one with which Highway Star kicked a stall wall earlier this summer, an incident that kept her off the work tab for a month.
Though the workout was faster than he was looking for, Ubillo was encouraged by how easily Highway Star appeared to do it under Luis Saez.
Flameaway and Diamond King, both alums of this year's Triple Crown trail, top a field of eight 3-year-olds drawn for the Grade 3, $300,000 Smarty Jones Stakes on Saturday at Parx Racing. The race serves as a local prep for the Grade 1, $1 million Pennsylvania Derby on Sept. 22.
Flameaway, last seen finishing second by three-quarters of a length in the Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga, will be seeking his fifth career stakes win for trainer Mark Casse. The Scat Daddy colt finished 13th in the Kentucky Derby, sitting fourth at the quarter pole but fading late.
DEL MAR, Calif. – The work ethic that propelled Drayden Van Dyke to a Del Mar record-equaling day Sunday and a spot atop the jockeys’ standings this summer was evident Monday morning, when he was out bright and early, working horses at 6:30 for upcoming races.
Van Dyke was still understandably excited over what had transpired Sunday, when he became only the second jockey to win seven races on a single Del Mar card, equaling Victor Espinoza’s feat of 2006.
“I slept like crap, just from excitement,” Van Dyke said. “Plus, I had to respond to all my text messages.”
It’s the shtick that keeps on giving.
Owner-trainer Carlo Vaccarezza likes to name some of his horses for friends and acquaintances with “Little” in the title. So when Little Chesney won the $75,000 Jupiter Beach Stakes on Sunday at Gulfstream Park in South Florida, there were questions.
Vaccarezza said he named Little Chesney for Bryan Walls, the longtime clocker at the Palm Meadows training center in Boynton Beach.
“I tell Bryan he looks like Kenny Chesney,” the superstar country musician, Vaccarezza said. “So I named the horse for him.”
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Mark Casse added another accomplishment to his Canadian racing résumé Saturday when Neepawa won the $400,000 Breeders’ Stakes, the third and final jewel of the Canadian Triple Crown, over 1 1/2 miles on the Woodbine turf.
Casse swept all three legs of the Canadian Triple Crown this year – winning the Queen’s Plate and Prince of Wales Stakes with Wonder Gadot, and the Breeders’ Stakes with Neepawa.
