ELMONT, N.Y. – A 3-year-old hasn’t won the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic since Kitten’s Joy in 2004, the first year the race was renamed to honor the legendary Daily Racing Form columnist.
Trainer Tom Morley hopes to end that streak Saturday, when he sends out Carrick against seven older males in the $500,000 Hirsch at 1 1/2 miles over Belmont’s Widener turf course. Three-year-olds are 0 for 9 in the Hirsch starting in 2005, when English Channel finished second.
Sea Foam will be stepping outside of the New York-bred ranks Sunday when he attempts to win his third straight stakes race in the Grade 3, $400,000 Oklahoma Derby at Remington Park.
“It’s much tougher, this race, but now is the right time to step him up,” trainer Christophe Clement said.
Sea Foam is coming off wins in the $158,000 New York Derby on July 21 at Finger Lakes and the $250,000 Albany on Aug. 24 at Saratoga. Earlier in his career, he won the $100,000 Notebook against New York-breds at Aqueduct.
ELMONT, N.Y. – While the connections of many U.S.-based horses have opted to train their horses up to the Breeders’ Cup in November at Churchill Downs, the Ireland-based Aidan O’Brien has taken a different approach.
On Tuesday, O’Brien shipped the 3-year-old Mendelssohn to New York, where on Saturday at Belmont Park he will take on fellow Euro shipper Thunder Snow and the speedy multiple Grade 1 winner Diversify in an intriguing 100th renewal of the Grade 1, $750,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup.
The Breeders’ Cup Mile lost two key players on Sept. 15 but gained another the same day.
In Ireland, the imposing filly Alpha Centauri, whose connections long had harbored designs on the Mile, suffered a career-ending injury finishing second to Laurens in the Matron Stakes. On the same program, Saxon Warrior raced for the final time finishing second to Roaring Lion in the Irish Champion Stakes. Both horses were retired the following day.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Old English Rancho and trainer Kenny Black recently parted ways, with the stable’s runners now based with trainers Dan Blacker, Hector Palma, and Phil D’Amato.
D’Amato said on Wednesday that he has three runners owned by Old English Rancho, including What a View, the multiple stakes winner who won the Grade 1 Frank Kilroe Mile at Santa Anita in 2016. Trainer Dan Blacker said that three horses from Old English Rancho have joined his stable. Palma received two horses, according to Old English Rancho farm manager Jonny Hilvers.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Jockey Martin Garcia was expected to be hospitalized overnight on Wednesday after being unseated in a morning workout at Santa Anita, according to his agent, Thom Mitchell.
Garcia was working Orca for trainer Ron McAnally when he was unseated while pulling up the 2-year-old filly.
Garcia struck his head in the fall, which prompted doctors to keep the rider in the hospital for observation, Mitchell said.
“They’re being cautious because it’s a head deal,” Mitchell said. “I talked to him. He’s groggy. I think he hit his head pretty hard.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Since Drayden Van Dyke won his first riding title at Del Mar on Sept. 3, he has celebrated his 24th birthday and won three stakes at Kentucky Downs and Los Alamitos.
On Friday’s first day of the autumn meeting at Santa Anita, Van Dyke has five mounts on the nine-race program and the job of trying to win his first riding title there.
“Hopefully, I can pick up where I left at Del Mar,” he said between workouts on Wednesday morning. “I hope to keep getting on the right horses.”
The Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile will be run at a one-turn configuration for the first time since 2011 when it is renewed Nov. 3 at Churchill Downs. It’s an “intriguing” twist that makes the race a potential target for a vast cross-section of horses, trainer Al Stall Jr. said.
“They’re coming from everywhere,” he said.
Stall hopes C Z Rocket will punch his ticket to the Dirt Mile – expected to be led by Catalina Cruiser, an undefeated graded stakes winner at one turn and two – when he runs Saturday in the Grade 3, $100,000 Ack Ack at Churchill Downs.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Monnie Goetz will be on the ground, not astride her popular pony Harley, prior to the first race Friday at Churchill. Goetz will saddle Cedar Creek for the $10,000 starter allowance while taking a short break from her self-owned pony service, which accompanies most Churchill runners to the starting gate.
