Mon, 07/02/2018 - 15:20

Tapwrit tunes up for Suburban Stakes

Barbara D. Livingston
Tapwrit is set to return from a 10-month layoff Sunday at Belmont Park.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Tapwrit, the 2017 Belmont Stakes winner, worked a sharp five furlongs in 1:00.71 on Sunday and was visually impressive galloping out a mile in 1:37.80 while preparing for Saturday’s Grade 2, $700,000 Suburban Stakes.

Tapwrit worked with Patch, who is possible for the Whitney or Woodward at Saratoga.

“I thought it was an excellent work,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. “Did it very well, in hand. Seems like he’s doing well. He’s become a better, more impressive breeze horse, little more straightforward, focused.”

Mon, 07/02/2018 - 15:16

Analyze It, Significant Form fitter for Belmont Derby, Oaks

Joe Labozzetta/NYRA
Analyze It (right) loses by a neck to Catholic Boy in the Pennine Ridge Stakes.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Losses by Analyze It and Significant Form at short prices last month left trainer Chad Brown perhaps a bit disappointed but not deterred from running both 3-year-olds in seven-figure races at longer distances this Saturday at Belmont Park.

Analyze It suffered his first defeat when beaten a neck by Catholic Boy at odds of 1-2 in the Grade 3 Pennine Ridge at 1 1/8 miles at Belmont Park on June 2. He will represent Brown in Saturday’s Grade 1, $1.2 million Belmont Derby Invitational at 1 1/4 miles.

Mon, 07/02/2018 - 14:56

Gronkowski misses work, Jim Dandy still possible

Barbara D. Livingston
Gronkowski has not been ruled out of a start in the July 28 Jim Dandy Stakes.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Belmont Stakes runner-up Gronkowski missed a scheduled workout over the weekend, but trainer Chad Brown has not ruled him out of still making the Grade 2, $600,000 Jim Dandy at Saratoga on July 28.

“Gronkowski had a minor setback out of his work last week that’s just a week-to-week deal,” Brown said. “He missed his work this week, I’m just taking it week to week and seeing when I can get him back on the work tab.”

On June 23, Gronkowski worked a half-mile in 49.24 seconds.

Mon, 07/02/2018 - 14:50

Elate to return in Delaware Handicap

Barbara D. Livingston
Elate is to return from an eight-month layoff in the Delaware Handicap on July 14.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Elate, a multiple Grade 1 winner at 3, will make her 4-year-old debut in the Grade 2, $750,000 Delaware Handicap on July 14, trainer Bill Mott said Sunday.

Elate, who won the Grade 1 Alabama at 1 1/4 miles last summer, has not raced since finishing fourth as the favorite in last November’s Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Del Mar.

Mon, 07/02/2018 - 14:46

Oscar Performance to Arlington Million

Chelsea Durand/NYRA
Oscar Performance is pointing for the Grade 1 Arlington Million on Aug. 11.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Stablemates Oscar Performance and Heart to Heart will both be in action on Aug. 11, but it won’t be in the same race.

Though trainer Brian Lynch initially said he would concentrate on one-mile races for Oscar Performance this year, he is pointing the recent Grade 3 Poker Stakes winner to the Grade 1 Arlington Million at 1 1/4 miles at Arlington Park on Aug. 11.

Heart to Heart remains on schedule for the Grade 1, $500,000 Fourstardave at Saratoga the same day.

Mon, 07/02/2018 - 14:46

Coaching Club Oaks possible spot for Monomoy Girl-Midnight Bisou rematch

Chelsea Durand/NYRA
Midnight Bisou rebounded from a third-place effort in the Kentucky Oaks with a dominant Mother Goose victory.

ELMONT, N.Y. – If there is to be a showdown at Saratoga between top 3-year-old fillies Monomoy Girl and Midnight Bisou, it would more likely happen in the Grade 1, $300,000 Coaching Club American Oaks on July 22 than the Grade 1, $600,000 Alabama on Aug. 18.

Mon, 07/02/2018 - 14:26

Gaffalione nips Jaramillo to win riding title

Barbara D. Livingston
Jockey Tyler Gaffalione captured his sixth Gulfstream riding title with the end of the spring meet Saturday.

In one of the tightest finishes to a jockey race at Gulfstream Park in recent memory, Tyler Gaffalione edged Emisael Jaramillo, 63-62, to defend his title at the spring meeting, which ended Saturday. It was the sixth Gulfstream Park riding title for Gaffalione, who won an Eclipse Award as leading apprentice in 2015.

How much time Gaffalione and his agent, Matt Muzikar, will spend at Gulfstream during the summer remains to be seen.

Mon, 07/02/2018 - 14:20

Stormy Embrace runs her way into Breeders' Cup picture

Coglianese Photos
Stormy Embrace earns a career-high 97 Beyer Speed Figure for her Princess Rooney win.

Trainer Kathleen O’Connell fully expected Stormy Embrace to run a big race in Saturday’s Grade 2 Princess Rooney at Gulfstream Park. After all, the steadily improving filly had posted a career-best 93 Beyer Speed Figure two starts back winning an overnight handicap at Tampa Bay Downs before capturing the restricted Musical Romance five weeks later at Gulfstream Park despite jockey Wilmer Garcia having misjudged the finish line and easing her up 100 yards from the wire.

Mon, 07/02/2018 - 12:46

After three-year battle, Mott agrees to serve 7 days for medication violation

Barbara D. Livingston
Bill Mott is to begin serving a seven-day suspension on Thursday.

Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott believes he has helped New York horsemen win the war, but he will surrender his personal battle with the New York State Gaming Commission over a positive drug test regarding one of his horses dating back nearly four years.

On Thursday, Mott will begin serving a seven-day suspension for the finding of the therapeutic medication Flunixin (banamine) in the horse Saratoga Snacks, who finished last in a race at Belmont Park on Sept. 20, 2014. Mott also will pay a $1,000 fine.

Mon, 07/02/2018 - 12:06

Court injured in motorcycle accident

Jockey Jon Court is expected to be sidelined at least until late August after suffering a fractured collarbone in a motorcycle accident last week.

Court, 57, is a six-time leading rider at Ellis Park in western Kentucky. He told Ellis publicity that surgery to repair the affected area involved the insertion of a plate and seven screws.

Court, a winner of more than 4,100 races, has suffered a multitude of injuries in a career dating to 1980, including fractured ribs in a water-tubing accident that forced him to miss the 2016 Ellis meet.