A year ago, Good Samaritan made his dirt debut a winning one, defeating Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming and Preakness winner Cloud Computing in the Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga.
Now, those same connections – trainer Bill Mott and an ownership group that includes WinStar Farm and China Horse Club – are considering a similar surface switch with the 4-year-old Yoshida.
Trainer Karl Broberg’s stable leads North America in wins this year, and he has started to focus on adding more 2-year-olds to the mix. The barn’s most accomplished young horse Wakefield could be bound for Evangeline Downs next.
Wakefield won the $107,000 colts and geldings division of the Texas Thoroughbred Futurity in his most recent start July 15 at Lone Star Park. The gelded son of Munnings is now 2 for 2, both for longtime Broberg client Jerry Namy. Wakefield earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 70 in the Texas Thoroughbred Futurity.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Bill Mott’s focus when it comes to his 3-year-old Hofburg is to get him to the Grade 1 Travers Stakes on Aug. 25 in the best way possible.
As of Monday, Mott believes the best way to do that is to run Hofburg in Friday’s $100,000 Curlin Stakes at Saratoga. It’s not as prestigious or as lucrative as Saturday’s Grade 2, $600,000 Jim Dandy Stakes, but it’s supposed to be easier.
Pickett, winner of the $75,000 colts and geldings division of the D.S. “Shine” Young Memorial at Evangeline on July 14, is being freshened, according to trainer Glenn Delahoussaye.
“Pickett and I are going to take a little break,” Delahoussaye said last week when driving to the beach for a short getaway.
Pickett, meanwhile, will spend his time enjoying the surroundings at his base, the Copper Crown training center near Evangeline.
Retama Park near San Antonio and Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico both have significant stakes coming up this week.
Retama on Friday night will run five stakes for Quarter Horses, including one that drew past world champion Jrc Callas First. The track’s card on Saturday night features the $479,196 TQHA Sales Futurity and the $139,300 Retama Park Derby, both for Quarter Horses.
Retama is running a mixed meet this year, and its first races for Thoroughbreds are scheduled for Tuesday, July 31.
DEL MAR, Calif. – With four wins the first week of the meet, including Grade 2 stakes victories with Catalina Cruiser in the San Diego on Saturday and Catapult in the Eddie Read on Sunday, John Sadler moved into third place for career victories among trainers at Del Mar, passing Hall of Famer Ron McAnally.
Sadler, 61, now has 448 victories at this track, surpassing McAnally’s 445. Only Bob Baffert, who won one race opening week and has 481 wins, and the late Mike Mitchell, who had 476, have more wins at Del Mar than Sadler.
Pam Fitzgerald decided on a career path much earlier than most of her classmates in her native Denver, Colo. With the now-defunct Centennial Race Course near her home, it’s no surprise that Fitzgerald has spent her life working at the racetrack.
“My parents bought their first racehorse when I was 6,” she said. “I went to elementary school about a mile from Centennial, and as soon as school got out, I hightailed it to the track. I just loved it.”
DEL MAR, Calif. – With two of the best older runners on the West Coast, trainer John Sadler has a good problem on his hands.
The day after Catalina Cruiser romped in the San Diego on Saturday, Sadler said he was inclined to give the unbeaten colt more time between starts and stick with his original plan to make Accelerate his lone representative in the Aug. 18 Pacific Classic. Both Catalina Cruiser and Accelerate are owned by Kosta and Pete Hronis.
Accelerate worked five furlongs on Sunday morning in 59.60 seconds, which tied for the fastest of 69 works at the distance.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Victor Espinoza, the Hall of Fame jockey who fractured a vertebra in an accident Sunday morning at Del Mar, will miss the remainder of the meeting, his agent, Brian Beach, said Monday afternoon.
Beach said Espinoza would be required to wear a neck brace for the next six weeks, “more to remind him not to turn his head sideways suddenly.” Espinoza is at Scripps La Jolla Hospital, where he is expected to remain for several more days, Beach said.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Monomoy Girl put more distance between herself and the rest of the 3-year-old filly division on Sunday with a decisive three-length victory over Midnight Bisou in the Grade 1, $300,000 Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga.
