SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The older she’s gotten, the more Finley’sluckycharm has learned to harness her abundant speed. It’s a trait that trainer Bret Calhoun is hoping will serve her well when she seeks her second Grade 1 win of the season here next Saturday in the seven-furlong Ballerina.
Finley’sluckycharm tuned up for the Ballerina working an easy half-mile in 48.66 seconds over the Oklahoma training track Friday.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Five and a half furlongs was too short for the 2-year-old filly Carnival Colors, who finished third at that distance while making her career debut here July 27. In fact, the 1 1/16 miles that Carnival Colors raced in an off-the-turf maiden race Thursday at Arlington might also have been shorter than ideal, since Carnival Colors galloped out around the clubhouse turn like a filly who was just getting warmed up.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – When Winning Envelope galloped across the finish six lengths best in a 2-year-old maiden race on the Arlington Million card Aug. 11, bets were cashed. The filly paid $13.20 to win despite having turned heads during morning work for a couple of months before she raced.
Nobody won bigger than Winning Envelope’s owner, Hutch Holsapple.
There were six-figure offers for Winning Envelope before she ever started, but Holsapple elected to roll the dice and see if Winning Envelope could boost her value in a race. Did she ever.
She Takes Heart, who worked Friday at Gulfstream, is bound for the Grade 1, $700,000 Personal Ensign at Saratoga, said owner Ron Paolucci of Loooch Racing Stables. The race is Aug. 25.
Trained by Peter Walder, She Takes Heart was the runner-up in the $75,000 Added Elegance in her last start July 28 at Gulfstream. She breezed a half-mile in 48 seconds Friday. Paolucci said Eric Cancel has the mount in the Personal Ensign.
Santa Anita plans to launch a 20-cent Rainbow Six at its 22-day autumn meeting, which begins on Sept. 28, according to track executive Tim Ritvo.
The proposed change is part of Santa Anita’s license application for the autumn meeting, which will be discussed at Thursday’s California Horse Racing Board meeting at Del Mar.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Bellafina, the easy winner of the Grade 2 Sorrento Stakes on Aug. 5, worked a half-mile in 49.80 seconds at Del Mar on Friday and is likely to start in the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante for 2-year-old fillies on Sept. 1.
Trainer Simon Callaghan said earlier this month that Bellafina’s condition would be monitored before a decision was reached whether to skip the $300,000 Del Mar Debutante at seven furlongs in favor of the Grade 1 Chandelier Stakes at 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita on Sept. 29.
Curlin’s Approval could be headed back to the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint. Her connections are just starting to look for a suitable stepping-stone to that race following her win in last Sunday’s $75,000 Sugarloaf Key Handicap at Gulfstream Park.
Rocco Bowen is home and cooled out in the race for leading jockey at Emerald Downs. Going into the weekend, the 29-year-old native of Barbados has 81 wins, and his closest pursuer is Kevin Orozco, with 59.
Bowen, who also dominated the standings last year, is confident he hasn’t reached his full potential as a rider.
“Mike Smith said a jockey doesn’t really become good until he’s 30,” said Bowen. “I am not too thrilled about turning 30, but I want to see how true that statement is.”
Bowen learned to ride at a jockey school sponsored by the Barbados Turf Club.
Santa Anita will run three stakes at five furlongs on turf at the 22-day autumn meeting from Sept. 28 to Nov. 4, the track announced on Thursday.
This will be the first meeting with five-furlong turf races, which will be run on the oval portion of the course. The races will be run on a limited basis, track officials said. For decades, the shortest turf races at Sana Anita have been run at about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course, which will continue.
The first of 26 stakes at the meeting – the Grade 3 Eddie D Stakes on Sept. 28 – will be run on the hillside course.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Among the 75 or so turf workers at Saratoga on Thursday was A Raving Beauty, the Grade 1 Just a Game winner, who worked five furlongs in 1:00.70 in company with Santa Monica. The pair got their last quarter in 23.89 seconds.
A Raving Beauty, third to Sistercharlie in the Grade 1 Diana here early in the meet, is preparing for the Grade 2, $400,000 Ballston Spa Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 25.
Trainer Chad Brown has five nominated to the Ballston Spa and is considering running Off Limits and Quidura in addition to A Raving Beauty.
