SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Reigning Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown was honored Tuesday night by the Tri-City Valley Cats, a minor league affiliate of the Houston Astros who play in the New York-Penn League. The Valley Cats held a Chad Brown bobblehead night, and Brown, a native of nearby Mechanicsville, threw out the ceremonial first pitch.
Brown said he played center field in high school.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Mike Smith will ride Arrogate on Saturday at Del Mar in the San Diego, then hop a red-eye to Saratoga for Abel Tasman in the Coaching Club American Oaks on Sunday. Because he will be away, he cannot ride Sircat Sally in the Grade 2, $200,000 San Clemente Handicap for 3-year-old fillies at Del Mar on Sunday, and thus will be replaced by Drayden Van Dyke.
Drefong is just about set to return to action. The champion male sprinter of 2016 has been idle since his victory in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, but he is scheduled to make his first start of the year in the Grade 1, $300,000 Bing Crosby Stakes on July 29, for which he tuned up with a sharp six-furlong work in 1:11.40 on Wednesday morning.
“Now he’s ready,” his trainer, Bob Baffert, said after Drefong’s drill. Drefong worked in company with Lord Simba, and Baffert said he may run both in the six-furlong Crosby.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Trevor Denman is playing hurt this meet. The long-time, popular announcer is back for his 34th summer here at Del Mar, but he showed up for work Wednesday with a full cast on his right leg and a cane to help him move along, the result of an accident on farm equipment at his spread in Minnesota in April.
“Never had pain like that before,” said Denman, who said he broke his leg in three places, but said he is supposed to have the cast off a couple of weeks into the meet.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Two-time champion Songbird is back in Southern California following her win in the Grade 1 Delaware Handicap at Delaware Park last Saturday. It may not be long before she is back on the road.
Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said Wednesday that Songbird is being considered for the Grade 1 Personal Ensign Stakes for fillies and mares Aug. 26 at Saratoga.
“We might take a look at that race,” he said. “We’ll have some different races to look at.”
DEL MAR, Calif. – Rival owners and trainers are in no hurry to run their older horses against Arrogate in Saturday’s Grade 2 San Diego Handicap at Del Mar.
As of late Wednesday morning, Arrogate had four likely rivals – Accelerate, Cat Burglar, Donworth, and El Huerfano.
El Huerfano, winner of an optional claimer at Santa Anita in June, was not a certain runner as of Wednesday, trainer Peter Miller said.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Todd Pletcher may have surrendered his title as perennial leading trainer at Saratoga last summer, but when it comes to victories with 2-year-olds, he remained second to none.
Fifteen of Pletcher’s 31 victories at the 2016 Saratoga meet came with his 2-year-olds, including wins in all three graded stakes for juvenile fillies. Over the last seven Saratoga seasons, Pletcher has won 112 races for 2-year-olds, an average of 16 per meet.
Parx Racing has added the Donald LeVine Memorial to its Labor Day lineup of stakes.
The LeVine has been won each of the past two years by A. P. Indian. It was one of several $100,000 stakes dropped from the schedule this year. The LeVine is for 3-year-olds and up. It has been shortened from seven furlongs to six furlongs.
Trainer Graham Motion holds a strong hand coming into the July 30 Haskell card at Monmouth Park. He is pleased with how Belmont Stakes runner-up Irish War Cry is training for the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational and is considering running Miss Temple City in the Grade 3 Matchmaker.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – In June 2016, Brian Lynch was forced to surrender his New York trainer’s license after testing positive for marijuana. Though he could run horses at other tracks in his name, he was not permitted on the grounds at Belmont Park where the bulk of his stable was based.
Ultimately, Lynch’s ban lasted three weeks before his license was reinstated by the New York Gaming Commission. Lynch said that being away from his best horses gave him a new perspective.
