SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Thanks to Kendrick Carmouche, there will be a pick six carryover of $154,728 into Saturday’s 12-race card.
The Saturday pick six will be conducted on races 7 through 12 and includes the Grade 1, $500,000 Coaching Club American Oaks where Thorpedo Anna figures to be a prohibitive favorite in a field of five.
The wager went unclaimed Friday in large part because Carmouche rode longshot winners against odds-on favorites in the first and last leg of the pick six.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Ottoman Fleet, a two-time graded stakes winner in the United States this year for Godolphin and trainer Charlie Appleby, returned to the work tab Friday morning. He went a half-mile in 53.63 seconds over the Oklahoma turf course, according to Daily Racing Form clocker Mike Welsch, but went his last quarter in 25.63 seconds and then galloped out extremely well. He is preparing for a start in either the Grade 1 Fourstardave here on Aug. 10 or a stakes at Woodbine.
Laulne, winner of the Angels Flight Stakes for turf sprinters at Santa Anita in April, is in the midst of a month-long break to recover from a splint bone injury.
Trainer Phil D’Amato said on Thursday that Laulne is scheduled to return to his stable at Del Mar in August.
“I had to turn her out,” he said. “She popped a splint. It’s something tiny, but it will cost us 30 days.”
Brickyard Ride, an eight-time stakes winner whose retirement was announced in February, will stand at stud in 2025 at Rancho San Miguel in San Miguel, Calif., according to a statement issued on Thursday.
Brickyard Ride will stand for $4,000.
By the prominent California stallion Clubhouse Ride, Brickyard Ride won 13 of 31 starts and earned $925,477, racing from 2019 to January of this year.
Senor Buscador, winner of the $20 million Saudi Cup in Saudi Arabia in February, is scheduled to have his summer debut in the Grade 2 Pat O’Brien Stakes at seven furlongs at Del Mar on Aug. 24.
Trainer Todd Fincher said on Friday that Senor Buscador will not run in the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap on July 27, a race the now 6-year-old horse won in 2023.
“We’ll miss the San Diego,” Fincher said. “We’ll aim for the Pat O’Brien. I think I’ve got him on schedule.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Though he is entered in Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park, Fierceness remained in Saratoga while his Todd Pletcher-trained stablemates Mindframe and Tuscan Sky were put on a van early Friday morning bound for Monmouth Park.
Provided there was no hiccup for Mindframe at Monmouth Saturday morning – à la the fever that forced Pletcher to scratch Mentee from the July 13 Sanford Stakes – then the Belmont Stakes runner-up will run in the Haskell and Fierceness will run in next Saturday’s Grade 2, $500,000 Jim Dandy Stakes.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Kingsbarns, the Grade 1 Stephen Foster winner, returned to the work tab Friday morning in Saratoga but he will bypass the Grade 1 Whitney Stakes here on Aug. 3 and point to the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup at Saratoga on Sept. 1, trainer Todd Pletcher said.
Pletcher said the Jockey Club, at 1 1/4 miles, will be used as a stepping-stone to the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar on Nov. 1.
The Minnesota Thoroughbred Association, which administered an annual yearling sale and stallion season auction for Minnesota-bred horses, has disbanded, according to board members of the organization.
The association, which was founded in 1971 to promote the state’s breeding program, voted to disband in late June due to a lack of funding, according to Dorothy Erban, a board member.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer Jeremiah Englehart has sent out a pair of 2-year-olds to win their debuts by 10 or more lengths so far this year, and they may not be the best juveniles he has in his barn.
On Wednesday, the New York-bred filly Bellacose won her debut by 10 3/4 lengths, running 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:05.08 and earning a 71 Beyer Speed Figure. Last month, at Aqueduct, Mo Plex won a 2-year-old maiden race by 10 lengths, then came back here on July 13 to win the Grade 3 Sanford by a length.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - While he hasn’t officially shut the door on running Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan again this year, trainer Ken McPeek said Thursday he is really focused on having him prepared for a good 4-year-old season.
Mystik Dan was the only horse to run in all three Triple Crown races, finishing second in the Preakness and eighth in the Belmont Stakes following his Kentucky Derby win. Mystik Dan remained in Saratoga for several weeks, but really wasn’t training, before McPeek decided to send him to Kentucky right before the Saratoga meet started.
