Trainer Donna Hurtak was pleased to report that Conquest Big E came out of his seven-length win in the $50,000 Coast Is Clear Handicap last Sunday in excellent shape and will be pointed to the Grade 3, $100,000 Philip H. Iselin Stakes on Aug. 26 at Monmouth Park.
“He’s doing great,” Hurtak said. “He’s very proud of himself right now. When I come to his stall in the mornings, he has his ears pricked and is eager to do something. He’s just full of life.”
DEL MAR, Calif. – Del Mar reported strong handle figures and no catastrophic injuries for the first week of racing, a far more encouraging start to the meet than last summer, when a rash of fatalities set a tone from which the meet never fully recovered.
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DEL MAR, Calif. – Gracida, who was a debut winner Saturday, will be pointed to the Grade 1, $300,000 Del Mar Futurity for 2-year-olds on the meet’s closing day, Sept. 4, trainer Doug O’Neill said.
O’Neill said Gracida would bypass the Grade 2, $200,000 Best Pal Stakes on Aug. 12.
“We’re going to relax and shoot for the Futurity,” O’Neill said. “It’s tempting to come back in the Best Pal, but we’re going to hit the patient button.”
DEL MAR, Calif. – Hall of Fame trainer Ron McAnally, who has spent 60 straight summers at Del Mar, was eager to get back to work after being released from the hospital late Monday following a fall at a fundraiser Sunday night. He was kept overnight at Scripps Encinitas Hospital for observation.
Galactica, who won the $100,000 colts-and-geldings division of the Texas Thoroughbred Futurity on Saturday night at Lone Star Park, could see stakes action next at Saratoga, trainer Bret Calhoun said Monday. He said the horse is scheduled to van to Kentucky and could catch an Aug. 3 flight to Saratoga.
Calhoun said Galactica could run next in either the Grade 2, $200,000 Saratoga Special at 6 1/2 furlongs Aug. 13 or the $100,000 Skidmore at 5 1/2 furlongs on turf Aug. 18.
Texas Chrome has a chance to become the all-time leading Texas-bred earner before the year is out. He became his home state’s second millionaire, joining Groovy, on Saturday night at Lone Star Park, according to the Texas Thoroughbred Association, and success in upcoming stakes races would lift him past the $1,346,956 banked by Groovy, the late champion sprinter of 1987.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Graded stakes winners Wake Forest and Long Haul Bay were pointing to stakes at Saratoga on Saturday but instead are getting a break, trainer Chad Brown said.
Brown was not pleased with the last couple of workouts by either horse and opted to skip Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Amsterdam with Long Haul Bay and the Grade 2, $250,000 Bowling Green with Wake Forest.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Linda Rice said Monday that she does not plan to run the red-hot Seymourdini here this summer and will point the son of Bernardini to the Kelso at Belmont Park on Sept. 23. Seymourdini has won his last three starts by an average margin of 12 lengths, with the first two of those victories coming at Laurel Park and the most recent a 10 1/2-length triumph in an overnight stakes at Belmont Park for which he received a 113 Beyer Speed Figure.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – This week, the 3-year-old males will be in the spotlight, with the highlight being Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming facing Preakness winner Cloud Computing in Saturday’s Grade 2, $600,000 Jim Dandy.
On Friday, seven lesser-accomplished 3-year-olds will try to earn a shot in the Grade 1 Travers on Aug. 26 when they run in the $100,000 Curlin Stakes, for those who have not won a graded stakes at longer than a mile in 2017.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Sircat Sally was resting comfortably in trainer Jerry Hollendorfer’s barn Monday, one day after she suffered a career-ending injury in the San Clemente Handicap when losing for the first time after seven victories.
Sircat Sally has a sesamoid fracture. According to assistant trainer Dan Ward, the injury likely will not require surgery if the horse is not going to race again. Sircat Sally is done racing, and her comfort level in the next two weeks will determine whether surgery is needed for her post-racing life, Ward said.
