SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Those looking forward to another meeting between Abel Tasman and Elate in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff could be disappointed.
Elate, beaten a head by Abel Tasman in Saturday’s controversial running of the Grade 1 Personal Ensign, could be pointed to the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic and not the $2 million Distaff, trainer Bill Mott said Sunday. Both races are at Churchill Downs on Nov. 3.
“They might have to put her in the Classic to meet us,” Mott said.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Dale Romans has a problem on his hands, a problem any of his colleagues would love to have: how to separate the wealth of talented 3-year-olds in his barn, including Promises Fulfilled and Seven Trumpets, the one-two finishers in Saturday’s Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial; King Zachary, the fourth-place finisher in the Grade 1 Travers; and West Virginia Derby winner Mr Freeze, who awaits Romans’s return to Churchill Downs at the end of the Saratoga meet.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Whitmore's victory in the $600,000 Forego at Saratoga on Saturday was trainer Ron Moquett’s second win in a Grade 1. In 2006, he won the Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs with 90-1 Seek Gold.
Robert LaPenta, co-owner of Travers winner Catholic Boy, has been involved in both of Moquett’s Grade 1 scores. He sold Seek Gold to Moquett just prior to the Foster. Now, Moquett has returned the favor. He sold a partial interest in Whitmore to LaPenta following the gelding’s debut victory in 2015.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The top three finishers from Saturday’s Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers Stakes are expected to go their separate ways for the immediate future, but if things go according to plan, all three could meet again in the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs on Nov. 3, their connections indicated Sunday.
Catholic Boy, who won the Travers by four lengths and earned a 104 Beyer Speed Figure, “came back really well,” according to trainer Jonathan Thomas.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer James Lawrence II, or Chuck, as everyone calls him, said Sunday morning that Glorious Empire had emerged from his 1 3/4-length victory in the Grade 1 Sword Dancer at Saratoga on Saturday in good shape and could start next in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at Belmont Park before his ultimate fall goal, the $4 million Breeders’ Cup Turf at Churchill Downs.
High North and Lone Sailor were part of a working list of six to eight potential starters for the Grade 3, $300,000 Super Derby as of Saturday, according to Louisiana Downs director of racing David Heitzmann. Entries for the Sept. 2 race are to be taken Monday.
The Super Derby is back on dirt after one year on turf. The race has been shortened to 1 1/16 miles after being run over 1 1/8 miles for its last main-track edition in 2016.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Shenandoah Queen will have her second start in a Grade 1 and her seventh in a graded stakes in the $300,000 Zenyatta Stakes at Santa Anita on Sept. 30.
Trainer John Sadler said on Saturday that the Zenyatta Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles is a target after Shenandoah Queen won the restricted Tranquility Lake Stakes for the second consecutive year at Del Mar on Friday.
“It would be nice to get her a placing,” Sadler said of a start in the Grade 1 Zenyatta Stakes.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Masochistic, the three-time stakes winner who was disqualified from a second-place finish in the 2016 Breeders’ Cup Sprint for a medication violation, is back in training after a brief retirement.
Co-owner Will Shamlian said Masochistic has been based with trainer Kristin Mulhall at Del Mar since earlier this month. Shamlian stressed that there is no certainty Masochistic will return to racing after a series of disappointing performances earlier this year when trained by Bob Baffert.
Jockey Gerald Almodovar rode his 2,000th North American winner in the seventh race at Timonium on Friday.
Almodovar, 32, has ridden almost exclusively at Charles Town since coming to the United States from his native Puerto Rico in 2004.
He was the leading rider at Charles Town in 2005 and has finished second in the standings on four other occasions. Coming into Saturday’s races, Almodovar was tied for second in the Charles Town standings with 66 wins.
Highway Star lost a hind shoe during her 46.80-second half-mile bullet workout on Monday while prepping for Saturday’s Grade 1 Ballerina. Trainer Rodrigo Ubillo closely monitored the hoof, which she had also injured earlier this summer by kicking her stall wall, but everything was fine.
On Saturday morning, however, hours before she was scheduled to race, Highway Star spiked a temperature, and Ubillo had to scratch her.
