DEL MAR, Calif. – Naughty Tiger, the winner of Wednesday’s $100,690 California Thoroughbred Breeders Association Stakes in her stakes debut, is unlikely to start again at the Del Mar summer meeting.
Trainer and co-owner Ed Freeman said on Thursday that he is considering Naughty Tiger for the $100,000 Barretts Debutante at Los Alamitos on Sept. 15.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Lava Man, the star older horse of the late 2000s and current stable pony, has shown rapid recovery from a colic operation earlier this week and could be sent to a local farm in several days, trainer Doug O’Neill said.
Lava Man underwent a procedure on Tuesday to correct a colon displacement. He was grazed at a local equine clinic on Wednesday evening and is showing normal colon function.
Suffolk Downs had begun planning for the remote possibility that it would have to cancel racing this weekend after the state’s racing law expired on Tuesday night prior to the legislature moving a bill extending the law.
However, Gov. Charlie Baker signed a bill extending the law on Thursday after the State Senate passed a bill during an informal session earlier in the day, allowing simulcasting to resume and for the live cards to go forward as planned.
When Unique Bella won the Clement Hirsch Stakes July 29 at Del Mar, she earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 93 – much lower than her usual good performances. But the number was consistent with the data for the other races on the card – all of them sprints.
Simulcasting operations were suspended in Massachusetts on Wednesday after the state legislature failed to pass a bill extending the state’s expiring racing law, but racing officials were hopeful that the legislature would act on Thursday afternoon to address the problem.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Uni, who was scratched out of the Grade 1 Gamely at Santa Anita in May, will return to the races in Saturday’s $100,000 De La Rose Stakes at Saratoga.
Uni, who began her 4-year-old campaign with a victory in the Plenty of Grace Stakes at Aqueduct in April, got sick when she shipped from New York to California for the Gamely and had to scratch. It took a little while for Uni to get over her illness, but her recent workouts appear to have her ready to return.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Voodoo Song, who won four races at last year’s Saratoga meet, was entered Wednesday to make his first start of the 2018 Saratoga meet in the $100,000 Lure Stakes.
It is not certain he will stay in the race as owner Barry Schwartz on Wednesday indicated a desire to run Voodoo Song in the Grade 1 Fourstardave here on Aug. 11.
“I think it’s time to step up,” Schwartz said. “It’s his favorite track and distance; everything points to taking a shot.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Joe Sharp has gotten off to a great start at the meet, winning four races from his first eight starters.
On Saturday, Sharp will look for his first graded stakes victory at Saratoga when he sends out Mom’s On Strike in the Grade 3, $200,000 Waya Stakes at 1 1/2 miles.
Mom’s On Strike won her first graded stakes when she galloped to a 3 1/4-length victory in the Grade 3 Bewitch at the Waya distance. Last out, she finished fourth under Adam Beschizza, beaten two lengths, in the Grade 2 New York at 1 1/4 miles.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Classy Act had put away Mia Mischief, turned back the challenge of Sower, and seemed on her way to winning the Grade 3 Victory Ride Stakes last month at Belmont Park. But along the inside came 47-1 longshot Dixie Serenade to get up in the final jump and win by a neck.
“I really thought if she could have seen or felt that horse, she could have held her off,” trainer Bret Calhoun said. “She ran huge; she ran great. I do look for her to bounce back well.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Uriah St. Lewis liked to bet on horses. His wife thought he was too ill informed to be successful.
“You like to gamble, why don’t you learn the trade?” St. Lewis said his wife, Amanda, told him back in the early 1980s.
