SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – It was only fitting that as Chris Kay, the president and CEO of the New York Racing Association, stood in the winner’s circle Monday afternoon discussing the 2018 Saratoga meet, a few raindrops began to fall.
Though nothing more than those drops fell Monday, rain was a dominant factor through the first half of the meet, and perhaps the primary reason why Saratoga fell short of setting another record for handle.
Last year, when Assael Espinoza worked as an exercise rider for trainer Jerry Hollendorfer at Santa Anita, he was tardy only once.
“He was late by five minutes,” recalls Dan Ward, Hollendorfer’s assistant.
Espinoza’s Uber driver had been pulled over in the pre-dawn journey, delaying his arrival.
“He had a note from the police,” Ward said.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Twenty-four hours before stepping on the van to head back to his regular home at Belmont Park, Diversify was given the opportunity to stretch his legs a little working an easy half-mile in 50.19 seconds shortly after the renovation break Monday at Saratoga.
Trainer Brian Lynch was impressed enough with Oscar Performance’s half-mile work on the turf Monday morning that he is now seriously considering running him in the Grade 1, $800,000 Woodbine Mile on Sept. 15.
Oscar Performance, who was pulled up and vanned off as the favorite in the Grade 1 Arlington Million on Aug. 11, worked a half-mile in 48.01 seconds Monday morning over the Oklahoma turf course in Saratoga.
Trainer Jason Servis hit at a .452 win percentage at the Belmont spring/summer meet, and he looks like he could kick off the Belmont fall meet with similar success.
Servis will send out two starters on Friday’s opening-day card, including Miz Mayhem in the featured $100,000 Christiecat Stakes for 3-year-old fillies going six furlongs on the turf. Belmont’s fall meet runs 36 days through Oct. 28.
Ride a Comet, the Eastern-based winner of Sunday’s Grade 2 Del Mar Derby, may circle back to California before the end of the year.
Trainer Mark Casse said Monday morning that the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby on Dec. 1 at Del Mar is a long-term goal, with the Grade 2 Hill Prince Stakes on Oct. 6 at Belmont Park as a short-term goal. The $300,000 Hollywood Derby is run at 1 1/8 miles on turf, the same distance as the Del Mar Derby. The $500,000 Hill Prince Stakes also is run at 1 1/8 miles on turf.
The three-week Los Angeles County Fair meeting that opens Thursday at Los Alamitos is typically the best supported of the track’s three daytime Thoroughbred meetings each year.
Since 2014, when Los Alamitos began running brief daytime meetings following the closing of Hollywood Park in 2013, the County Fair meeting has accounted for two of the three meetings with the largest average field sizes.
Larger fields make for more competitive races, which attracts bettors’ attention.
FRANKLIN, Ky. – All-sources handle for the coming Saturday at Kentucky Downs likely will approach the track record set last year on the comparable date, given the overall depth of the card and with Saratoga and Del Mar closed. Handle for the Sept. 9, 2017, card was more than $8.48 million, easily the highest in track history.
The handle last Saturday was $6.2 million, second-highest in track history. There was no viable comparable date for 2017 because the track opened on a Wednesday when weather forced the Saturday opener to be canceled.
FRANKLIN, Ky. – Even though he is a 3-year-old who would be facing older, Bandua was among the probable entries for Saturday’s Grade 3 Kentucky Turf Cup, a 1 1/2-mile race likely to get a full field of 12.
Irish trainer Dermot Weld told Kentucky Downs officials he might enter Bandua in both the Turf Cup and 1 5/16-mile Dueling Grounds Derby, but that the Calumet Farm colt is more likely for the former because of the longer distance. Bandua most recently was third in his North American debut, the Grade 1 Secretariat at Arlington Park, and has been training since then at Keeneland.
FRANKLIN, Ky. – With the 2018 summer meets at Saratoga and Del Mar coming to an end, some of the top jockeys at those high-profile tracks can be expected to make upcoming appearances at Kentucky Downs.
Among the riders named on Thursday mounts are Jose Ortiz, the reigning Eclipse Award winner; and Drayden Van Dyke, who led the Del Mar standings into Monday, closing day.
