Sat, 08/31/2024 - 20:14

String of upsets cause $210,165 pick six carryover into Sunday card

Barbara D. Livingston
Saratoga's Sunday card, the penultimate program of the 40-day meet, will feature a pick six carryover of $210,165.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The upset victories by Immersive ($27.40) in the Grade 1 Spinaway and Idea Generation ($64.50) in the Grade 2 Flower Bowl resulted in there being a pick six carryover of $210,165 into Sunday’s 13-race card at Saratoga.

The Sunday pick six will begin in race 8 (3:59 p.m.) and include three races scheduled for the turf, including the $150,000 Bernard Baruch Stakes. The Grade 1, $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup, scheduled for 1 1/4 miles on dirt and featuring Grade 1 Whitney winner Arthur’s Ride, is also in the sequence.

Fri, 08/30/2024 - 14:40

Skippylongstocking, Crupi eyeing Woodward at Aqueduct

Skippylongstocking wins the Charles Town Oaks Aug 23 2024
Coady Media
In a change from last year, trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. wants another race for Skippylongstocking before the Breeders’ Cup.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Skippylongstocking, the fifth-place finisher in the Grade 1 Whitney who came out of that race to win his second straight Charles Town Classic, will be pointed to the Grade 2 Woodward Stakes on Sept. 28 at Aqueduct, trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said.

Fri, 08/30/2024 - 14:40

Mystic Lake headed to Cotillion

Coady Media
Mystic Lake performed very well at two turns while winning the seven-furlong Charles Town Oaks by 5 3/4 lengths.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – There likely won’t be many who take on Thorpedo Anna in the Grade 1, $1 million Cotillion at Parx on Sept. 21, but Mystic Lake is expected to be one of them.

Mystic Lake, a dominant 5 3/4-length winner of the Charles Town Oaks on Aug. 23, is being pointed to the Cotillion, trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said. While run at seven furlongs, the Charles Town Oaks was contested around two turns. The Cotillion is run at 1 1/16 miles around two turns.

Fri, 08/30/2024 - 14:25

Mentee was sicker than originally known this summer; ready for Hopeful

Mentee at SAR Aug 26 2024
Barbara D. Livingston
Mentee, the 2-year-old full brother to Fierceness, was sent to Rood and Riddle when he started to show signs of laminitis.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Mentee, the 2-year-old full brother to Fierceness who won his debut at Aqueduct in June, was dealing with more than just a temperature when he was sidelined earlier this summer.

Mentee ended up in a clinic in Saratoga for several days where he had the onset of the potentially fatal hoof disease known as laminitis. But it was caught in time and Mentee was treated and he resumed training in time to run in Monday’s Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga.

Fri, 08/30/2024 - 14:05

Sadler opts for sprint with Bran in Eddie D

Barbara D. Livingston
Trainer John Sadler has opted to send Bran to the Eddie D Stakes at Santa Anita instead of the Del Mar Mile.

Bran, the winner of three sprint stakes on turf since April 2022, was held out of Saturday’s Grade 2 Del Mar Mile in favor of the Grade 2 Eddie D Stakes on the hillside turf course at Santa Anita on Sept. 28.

“I don’t want to do both,” trainer John Sadler said on Friday morning. “Everything is good. We’re just changing course.”

The $300,000 Del Mar Mile is the leading turf race at that distance of the track’s summer meeting. The Eddie D Stakes is run at about 6 1/2 furlongs and will be worth a record $750,000 this year. The purse was $200,000 in 2023.

Fri, 08/30/2024 - 13:57

Part of Pacific Classic card to be simulcast in Hong Kong

Benoit Photo
Saturday's Pacific Classic, Green Flash, and Del Mar Mile will be simulcast for wagering in Hong Kong.

Part of Saturday’s Pacific Classic program at Del Mar is going global.

For the first time for Del Mar, three stakes on Saturday’s program, including the Grade 1 Pacific Classic, will be simulcast for wagering to Hong Kong.

The arrangement to simulcast a non-Breeders’ Cup race from the United States to Hong Kong is a first since the Kentucky Derby in 2012, according to Bill Nader, the president of the Thoroughbred Owners of California. Nader was formerly a high-ranking official with the Hong Kong Jockey Club.

Fri, 08/30/2024 - 11:30

Adare Manor will scratch from Pacific Classic after tying up

Benoit photo
Adare Manor was scratched from the Grade 1 Pacific Classic on Friday.

Adare Manor, California’s leading older female, will not start in Saturday’s Grade 1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar after tying up after training on Thursday, trainer Bob Baffert said.

Adare Manor was the 9-5 favorite on the morning line to win the $1 million Pacific Classic.

“Adare Manor tied up a little bit after her gallop,” Baffert said. “I don’t feel she’s 100 percent. She can’t be off of her game.

“We’re going to sit this one out.”

Thu, 08/29/2024 - 15:02

Powell confident his duo is up to the task in pair of turf stakes

Benoit Photo
Dicey Mo Chara finished second at odds of 76-1 last out in the Grade 2 Eddie Read Stakes.

Dicey Mo Chara and Flashiest exceeded the expectations of bettors when they finished second and third in stakes at Del Mar in late July.

The results have left trainer Leonard Powell eager to see if one of them can deliver an upset in Grade 2 turf stakes worth $300,000 at Del Mar on Saturday.

Dicey Mo Chara starts in the Del Mar Handicap at 1 3/8 miles, while Flashiest runs in the Del Mar Mile.

Asked on Thursday if one of them can win, Powell had a quick answer.

“Both of them,” he said, with a laugh.

Thu, 08/29/2024 - 14:39

Caitlinhergrtness ruled out of Prince of Wales Stakes

Julie Wright
King's Plate winner Caitlinhergrtness will not run in the second leg of the Canadian Triple Crown, the Prince of Wales Stakes at Fort Erie.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – King’s Plate winner Caitlinhergrtness will bypass the second leg of the Canadian Triple Crown, the $400,000 Prince of Wales Stakes at Fort Erie, according to trainer Kevin Attard, who cited the tight schedule that she’s been on. 

Caitlinhergrtness finished second in the Woodbine Oaks on July 20, two weeks after she notched an allowance on the inner turf in her first start after being sent to Attard. The King’s Plate was pushed back from Aug. 17 to Aug. 23 due to inclement weather, and the Prince of Wales goes Sept. 10. 

Wed, 08/28/2024 - 17:11

Stakes purses increased for upcoming meet

Domestic Product beats Prince of Monaco in H. Allen Jerkens at SAR Aug 24 2024
Barbara D. Livingston
This year's Tampa Bay Derby winner, Domestic Product, came back to win last weekend's H. Allen Jerkens at Saratoga.

Topped by the Grade 3, $400,000 Tampa Bay Derby, there will be 26 stakes worth $3.8 million offered at the 2024-25 Tampa Bay Downs meet that runs from Nov. 20 through May 3, the track announced in a press release Wednesday afternoon.

The $3.8 million, which represents a $350,000 increase from last year’s stakes purse money, includes $960,000 provided by the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association through its registered Florida-bred and Florida Sire Stakes program. The FTBOA now has added money in all 26 stakes offered at the meet.