DEL MAR, Calif. – In two starts at Del Mar last year Roy H was essentially robbed of a win when he finished a troubled second in the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes in July, and ran a career-best race to win the Breeders’ Cup Sprint in November.
A three-time 2017 stakes winner, Roy H won the Eclipse Award as the year’s outstanding sprinter, the first champion for owner Gary Hartunian coming six years after he began actively acquiring Thoroughbreds.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Are You Kidding Me began his 2018 campaign with back-to-back wins, including a victory in the Grade 2 Eclipse Stakes on May 26, before running third behind stablemate Tiz a Slam in the Grade 3 Dominion Day Stakes over 1 1/4 miles at Woodbine on July 1.
He’ll make his next start Aug. 12 in the Grade 3, $125,000 Seagram Cup Stakes over 1 1/16 miles on Tapeta, trainer Roger Attfield said.
Attfield said Are You Kidding Me has come out of the Dominion Day in good order. He breezed five furlongs in 1:02.00 on the main track on Sunday morning.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Sid Attard had a big weekend at Woodbine, recording his 2,000th training victory in North America on Sunday when Lady of Moray won the ninth race on the card.
Of those 2,000 wins, 103 have been stakes victories. Attard’s most recent stakes win came July 8 in the Shepperton Stakes, when Kingsport upset Pink Lloyd to snap the Canadian Horse of the Year’s 11-race win streak.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Pink Lloyd had his 11-race win streak snapped with a third-place finish in the Shepperton Stakes on July 8, and will now look to start a new win streak. His next start will likely be in Woodbine’s Grade 3, $125,000 Vigil Stakes over six furlongs on Tapeta for 3-year-olds and upward July 29.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Jerry Hollendorfer needed four days on opening week at Del Mar to surpass his win total for the entire 2017 summer meeting.
Last year, Hollendorfer won with 5 of 80 starters. Through Sunday, he has 7 wins from 17 starters. Hollendorfer said the early success at this meeting helps the morale of his employees.
“It’s good for the barn,” Hollendorfer said, overseeing activity at his stable on Sunday morning.
The 72-year-old Hall of Fame trainer downplayed the frustrating summer of 2017.
“I’m a big boy,” he said. “I can take the abuse.”
DEL MAR, Calif.- American Pastime was fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Del Mar last November in the second stakes appearance of his career. For his third stakes run, in Sunday’s Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar, American Pastime faces a field that includes Roy H, the winner of the BC Sprint last year and the 2017 champion sprinter.
American Pastime has not raced since the BC Sprint, and a comeback against such tough competition has tempered trainer Bob Hess Jr.’s expectations for the $300,000 Bing Crosby at six furlongs.
Trainer Hamilton Smith went 4 for 6 at Laurel Park on Sunday, winning with his first four starters on the card.
Smith's winners were True Cat ($4.40) in race 1, Queen of Schmooze ($4.20) in race 2, Scrap Copper ($9) in the fourth, and Stillsexyatsixty ($4) in race 5.
His starters in races 6 and 8 finished sixth and second.
The track was listed good for race 1, fast for race 2, and sloppy for races 4 and 5.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - The conditions may not have been ideal when the racetrack opened for training here Sunday morning. But the wet and sealed strip did not deter Grade 3 winner Madison’s Luna from working a sharp five furlongs in 1:01.63 with regular rider Julien Leparoux aboard in preparation for his Saratoga debut, which will come later this week in either the 1 1/8-mile Curlin on Friday or 6 1/2-furlong Amsterdam the following day.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - When looking at the schedule of preferred races for Sistercharlie, trainer Chad Brown naturally sees the Grade 1, $500,000 Flower Bowl Stakes on Oct. 7 at Belmont Park as a logical spot.
But the 78 days between the Diana, which Sistercharlie won by a nose over Ultra Brat on Saturday at Saratoga, and the Flower Bowl are less than ideal. Thus, Brown is likely to wheel Sistercharlie back in three weeks and run her in the Grade 1, $600,000 Beverly D. Stakes at Arlington Park on Aug. 11.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Led by race winner War Heroine, the first seven finishers of Saturday’s Grade 2 San Clemente Stakes at Del Mar are candidates for the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks for 3-year-old fillies on Aug. 18.
The $202,760 San Clemente, run at a mile on turf, produced a tight finish, with 5-1 War Heroine prevailing by a neck over Ollie’s Candy, who closed well to finish a neck in front of 5-2 favorite Ms Bad Behavior.
