SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Three days into the Saratoga meet and nobody’s been able to solve the pick six yet.
After Major Force ran down Cookie Crisp in Sunday’s 11th race, it created a three-day carryover of $577,107 into Monday’s nine-race program. The pick six will start on race 4 (2:40 p.m. eastern). There are three turf races in the sequence – including the $200,000 Caress Stakes – but there was rain in the forecast Sunday night into Monday.
Jorge Navarro set a Monmouth Park record for wins in a day by a trainer when he won half of the 10 races on the Sunday card.
Navarro sent out the winners of races 1, 2, 3, 5, and 9. Valentino's Day finished second, beaten a neck, in race 5 for Navarro but was placed first by the stewards after an inquiry and jockey's objection.
Navarro's winners were Don't Tell ($3.80), Mandeville ($6.80), Bun Bun ($4.40), Valentino's Day ($3), and Fire Mission ($7.40).
DEL MAR, Calif. – There was only a brief celebration among Accelerate's connections Saturday night following the Pacific Classic because of an early work call Sunday morning.
The champion Stellar Wind – like Accelerate owned by Kosta and Pete Hronis, trained by John Sadler, and ridden by Victor Espinoza – worked at 6:30 Sunday morning in preparation for this Sunday’s Grade 1, $300,000 Clement Hirsch Stakes, in which Stellar Wind is the defending race winner.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Having won back-to-back Grade 1 victories the last two months, Lady Eli has positioned herself for a run at an Eclipse Award that, to date, has been the only thing that has eluded the gutsy 5-year-old mare.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - After a couple of disappointing afternoons to begin the Saratoga meet, trainer Steve Asmussen needed a pick-me-up. He got just that Sunday morning when Gun Runner worked a strong five furlongs in 59.86 seconds over the main track in preparation for his start in the Grade 1, $1.2 million Whitney Stakes on Aug. 5.
DEL MAR, Calif. – The morning after Arrogate’s stunning loss in the San Diego Handicap, the worst performance of the brilliant colt’s career, trainer Bob Baffert said the horse had come out of the race well, and that he expected Arrogate to rebound in the Grade 1, $1 million Pacific Classic on Aug. 19, for which the San Diego is a prep.
“He looks good today. That’s the most important thing,” Baffert said Sunday morning. “He was flat. He didn’t run his race. We’ll re-load.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Three horses eyeing the Grade 1 Vanderbilt Handicap turned in their final preps here Saturday morning including the up-and-coming El Deal, who shipped over from his Monmouth Park base to breeze five furlongs in 1:02.04 over the main track with Javier Castellano aboard. The Vanderbilt will be decided here at six furlongs next Saturday.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The winners of all three of this year’s Triple Crown races put in workouts about an hour apart Saturday morning at Saratoga as they prepare for the second half of the season and a bid for a divisional championship.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Glorious weather and strong field size led to booming business on opening day at Saratoga as all-sources handle was $20,332,051, an increase of 14.4 percent over opening day 2016 when all-sources handle was 17,763,037.
Attendance was announced at 32,730 down less than 1 percent from last year’s figure of 32,980. However, ontrack handle was $5,016,519, up 6.6 percent from last year’s figure of $4,703,479.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Arlington general manager Tony Petrillo said he hopes a very slow weekend at the entry box is an isolated occurrence and that the pace of Arlington entries will bounce back next week.
Arlington carded only seven races each on its Saturday and Sunday cards this weekend. Saturday’s program drew a mere 47 entrants, Sunday’s 46.
