DEL MAR, Calif. – Bal a Bali and Om are expected to meet Sunday in the Grade 2, $200,000 Del Mar Mile on turf, and each turned in a short, sharp workout on the dirt on a drizzly Tuesday morning in their final serious preparations for the race.
Om, trained by Dan Hendricks, worked three furlongs in 36.80 seconds. Bal a Bali, trained by Richard Mandella, went a half-mile in 47.40.
DEL MAR, Calif. – The Pacific Classic came into being in 1991, seven years after the first Breeders’ Cup. This year marks the first time that the Breeders’ Cup will be run at Del Mar, and that is one of the reasons the Pacific Classic this Saturday is so vitally important for the participants, especially Arrogate, for it mirrors the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 4, a 1 1/4-mile dirt race at Del Mar.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Led by Arrogate, a field of six or seven was expected to be entered on Tuesday morning for the Grade 1, $1 million Pacific Classic on Saturday at Del Mar, posts for which were to be drawn late Tuesday afternoon at the local restaurant The Brigantine.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – The morning after his unprecedented sweep of the two marquee races at Arlington Park, trainer Chad Brown was fondly reminiscing about the days when he worked in Southern California for his late mentor, Bobby Frankel.
“We’d be at Hollywood Park in the middle of the winter and he’d look at a horse and say, ‘That one will fit in the Beverly D.,’ or ‘That one, he’s my Million horse,’ ” said Brown, briefly mimicking Frankel’s heavy New York accent. “He was always thinking about those races.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Uni, third in the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks behind stablemates New Money Honey and Sistercharlie, worked five furlongs in 1:03.15 Monday morning in preparation for a start in Saturday’s Grade 2, $300,000 Lake Placid Stakes at Saratoga.
Uni worked in company with Roca Rojo, and the two broke off slowly, going an opening quarter in 27.02 seconds. They finished in 36.13 and galloped out six furlongs in 1:16.30.
“They broke off a little too slow, but they finished good,” trainer Chad Brown said.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Mojovation, arguably the most impressive male 2-year-old maiden winner at the meet, worked four furlongs in 48.57 seconds Monday morning over the Oklahoma training track.
Going in company with the unraced juvenile Animal Kingston, Mojovation, under John Velazquez, went his first quarter in 25.01 seconds and came home in 23.56 while continuing to gallop-out a solid five furlongs in 1:01.99 and six furlongs in 1:15.48.
Mojovation, a son of Quality Road, won a six-furlong race by two lengths July 28 and is pointing to the Grade 1 Hopeful here Sept. 4.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – After a slow start to the Saratoga meet, jockey Manny Franco has turned his summer around, riding 10 winners from 44 mounts over a seven-day period capped by his victory aboard World Approval in last Saturday’s Grade 1 Fourstardave Handicap.
It was the first Grade 1 win at Saratoga and third overall for the 22-year-old Franco, who last year won the Grade 1 Vosburgh and Grade 1 Frizette at Belmont Park in a one-week period.
Okie Ride, who won four runnings of the Oklahoma Classics Sprint to share a record with Highland Ice, died Aug. 9 following a workout at Remington Park. He collapsed shortly after finishing the half-mile drill. The incident was due to a suspected “pulmonary event,” according to a press release from Remington.
“All of us are just devastated,” trainer Kenny Nolen said. “He was just such a big part of us, and part of our family.”
The purse for the Grade 3 Delta Downs Princess for 2-year-old fillies has been boosted to $500,000, the Vinton, La., track announced Monday. The mile race had been worth $400,000 the past several years, while some earlier runnings had a purse of $500,000.
The Delta Downs Princess will share a card with the Grade 3, $1 million Delta Downs Jackpot on Nov. 18. The races carry eligibility points to the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby.
The two headline races are part of a 32-race, $4.2 million stakes schedule for the 84-date meet that runs from Oct. 18-March 10.
Texas Chrome, who finished an uncharacteristic ninth as the favorite in the Downs at Albuquerque Handicap, emerged from the race in good order and is now settled in at Remington, trainer Allen Milligan said.
“He’s okay,” Milligan said. “I don’t know what happened. I’d be guessing. The main thing is he came out of the race good.”
Milligan said owner Danny Keene sent Texas Chrome to a veterinary clinic to have the horse checked out from “head to toe” and had blood pulled. There were no issues found, Milligan said.
