SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Wonder Gadot won’t be the only 3-year-old trainer Mark Casse will be running at Saratoga on Travers Day.
Casse plans to cut Telekinesis back in distance and try him in the Grade 1, $500,000 H. Allen Jerkens Stakes at seven furlongs. Telekinesis, a son of Ghostzapper, finished fifth to Wonder Gadot in the Queen’s Plate after winning the Plate Trial going 1 1/8 miles over Woodbine’s synthetic surface.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – While the $100,000 Summer Colony Stakes for fillies and mares may technically be the featured event on Sunday’s 10-race card at Saratoga, a $95,000 allowance race for older sprinters looks more intriguing.
The seven-horse field includes the return of the graded stakes winner Breaking Lucky, who makes his first start in 11 months and first for trainer George Weaver. The field also includes Behavioral Bias, Petrov, and Favorable Outcome.
The shuttering of the Evangeline Training Center near Lafayette, La., on Aug. 15 marked the end of an era in Louisiana. The facility was the original Evangeline Downs racetrack, which moved operations to Opelousas, La., in 2005.
Carrol Castille, a Louisiana breeder and owner, operated the Evangeline Training Center for more than 10 years. The decision to close the facility, which as a racetrack launched the careers of numerous prominent riders and once hosted John Henry, was dictated by economics.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Good Magic beat Mother Nature on Friday and solidified his status as the horse to beat in the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers next Saturday with a strong workout over Saratoga’s fast main track.
With unsettled weather in the forecast for Friday into Saturday, trainer Chad Brown moved a planned Saturday workout for Good Magic up a day. And before some showers fell late Friday morning, Good Magic got in a five-furlong breeze in 1:00.76 under exercise rider Walter Melasquez.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The older she’s gotten, the more Finley’sluckycharm has learned to harness her abundant speed. It’s a trait that trainer Bret Calhoun is hoping will serve her well when she seeks her second Grade 1 win of the season here next Saturday in the seven-furlong Ballerina.
Finley’sluckycharm tuned up for the Ballerina working an easy half-mile in 48.66 seconds over the Oklahoma training track Friday.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Five and a half furlongs was too short for the 2-year-old filly Carnival Colors, who finished third at that distance while making her career debut here July 27. In fact, the 1 1/16 miles that Carnival Colors raced in an off-the-turf maiden race Thursday at Arlington might also have been shorter than ideal, since Carnival Colors galloped out around the clubhouse turn like a filly who was just getting warmed up.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – When Winning Envelope galloped across the finish six lengths best in a 2-year-old maiden race on the Arlington Million card Aug. 11, bets were cashed. The filly paid $13.20 to win despite having turned heads during morning work for a couple of months before she raced.
Nobody won bigger than Winning Envelope’s owner, Hutch Holsapple.
There were six-figure offers for Winning Envelope before she ever started, but Holsapple elected to roll the dice and see if Winning Envelope could boost her value in a race. Did she ever.
She Takes Heart, who worked Friday at Gulfstream, is bound for the Grade 1, $700,000 Personal Ensign at Saratoga, said owner Ron Paolucci of Loooch Racing Stables. The race is Aug. 25.
Trained by Peter Walder, She Takes Heart was the runner-up in the $75,000 Added Elegance in her last start July 28 at Gulfstream. She breezed a half-mile in 48 seconds Friday. Paolucci said Eric Cancel has the mount in the Personal Ensign.
Santa Anita plans to launch a 20-cent Rainbow Six at its 22-day autumn meeting, which begins on Sept. 28, according to track executive Tim Ritvo.
The proposed change is part of Santa Anita’s license application for the autumn meeting, which will be discussed at Thursday’s California Horse Racing Board meeting at Del Mar.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Bellafina, the easy winner of the Grade 2 Sorrento Stakes on Aug. 5, worked a half-mile in 49.80 seconds at Del Mar on Friday and is likely to start in the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante for 2-year-old fillies on Sept. 1.
Trainer Simon Callaghan said earlier this month that Bellafina’s condition would be monitored before a decision was reached whether to skip the $300,000 Del Mar Debutante at seven furlongs in favor of the Grade 1 Chandelier Stakes at 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita on Sept. 29.
