SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Robby Albarado thought he had it won. Charging down the center of the Saratoga main track aboard Mambo in Seattle in the 2008 Travers Stakes, Albarado hooked up with Colonel John and Garrett Gomez inside the eighth pole, and the horses were inseparable for the last sixteenth of a mile.
After the two colts hit the wire, Albarado raised his whip triumphantly, thinking he had nailed Colonel John on the money. The photo showed a different result.
The Timonium race meet at the Maryland State Fair begins a seven-day run Friday with higher purses and, for the first time in years, a stakes race.
Racing will be offered over the five-furlong track this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and from Friday to Monday next week. The meet closes on Labor Day.
Purses will average $185,000 per day, up from $160,000 a year ago, an increase of 16 percent. The suburban Baltimore-area track will hold the $75,000 Coalition Stakes on Saturday, a 6 1/2-furlong race for 3-year-olds and upward.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Saturday’s Shared Belief Stakes for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles at Del Mar is likely to draw two Grade 1 winners in Gormley and Klimt as well as Battle of Midway, who was third in the Kentucky Derby back in May.
The quality of the projected field does not match the prize money. The Shared Belief is worth $100,000 and has a first-place prize of $60,000.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Alex Canchari has ridden races from coast to coast while establishing himself as a capable journeyman. Now, he’ll ride regularly in Kentucky for the first time.
Canchari will team with one of the top agents on this circuit, Terry Miller, starting Sept. 1 at Ellis. The intent is to ride at the rich Kentucky Downs meet that starts the following day, then through the September meet at Churchill, the 17-day Keeneland meet, and the Churchill fall meet.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Trainer Kenny McPeek said Ten City lost a front shoe at the start of the Ellis Park Juvenile last Sunday, perhaps partially accounting for the colt incurring his first defeat. Dak Attack won the Juvenile, with Ten City finishing 4 3/4 lengths back in third as the odds-on favorite.
“It couldn’t have helped,” said McPeek. “But we’re good. The colt is fine, and I wasn’t overly disappointed. It should serve us well toward the next race.”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Kelsey Danner bounced between barns and press boxes as a young girl. When it came time to choose a career on the racetrack, well, it was a walkover.
“I always liked the horse side of things,” Danner said. “They’re easy. People can be hard.”
More than 15 years since she began galloping horses at her hometown track, Churchill Downs, Danner will make her debut as a trainer when saddling Nan’s Pierce Arrow for the sixth race Saturday at Ellis Park in western Kentucky.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Though Tapwrit hasn’t run in 11 weeks, he was installed as the 7-2 morning-line favorite for Saturday’s Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers Stakes at Saratoga, which for the first time since 1982 includes all three separate winners of the Triple Crown races.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Erupt has arrived from France for the Grade 1 Sword Dancer on Saturday and appears to be acclimating just fine judging by his calm demeanor and the way he was rolling around in the deep shavings of his stall after some light exercise Tuesday morning.
Erupt is owned by the Niarchos family and is based outside of Chantilly with trainer Francis-Henri Graffard. He was flown from France to New York on Saturday, vanned to Saratoga, and cleared quarantine Monday morning. He was accompanied by assistant trainer Anthony David and exercise rider Aurellien Bellei.
Bal a Bali will undergo a nuclear scan before a decision is made on his future as trainer Richard Mandella tries to figure out why he ran so poorly Sunday in the Del Mar Mile, in which he finished last of six.
“He looks fine. We’ve gone over him with a fine-toothed comb,” Mandella said. “We’ll check him out, put him through a scan.”
Mike Smith, the Hall of Fame jockey, has pledged 1 percent of his earnings from his mounts on Saturday at Saratoga to the Grayson-Jockey Club Foundation, which funds research into equine health issues, according to the foundation.
Smith, who is based in Southern California, has several high-profile mounts Saturday, including champion Songbird in the Grade 1, $700,000 Personal Ensign and West Coast in the $1.25 million Travers. He is named on two other horses in stakes races scheduled for that day.
