DEL MAR, Calif. – Avenge, who won the Grade 2 John C. Mabee Stakes for female grass runners on Sunday, and Sobradora Inc, who finished in a dead heat for fifth as the favorite in the race after encountering traffic trouble, could meet again in the Grade 1, $300,000 Rodeo Drive Stakes at Santa Anita on Oct. 1, their trainers said Monday.
Avenge won at a mile early in the meet and stretched out to 1 1/8 miles in the Mabee. The Rodeo Drive is at 1 1/4 miles.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Dortmund and Hoppertunity, who finished third and fourth behind California Chrome in the Pacific Classic in their last start, worked five furlongs in company Monday at Del Mar in preparation for races either at Santa Anita or Belmont Park.
“They’re nominated everywhere,” said their trainer, Bob Baffert, who has said Dortmund could again face California Chrome in the Grade 1, $300,000 Awesome Again at Santa Anita on Oct. 1, while Hoppertunity is under serious consideration for the Grade 1, $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park on Oct. 8.
DEL MAR, Calif. – On Labor Day morning, it was back to work for Songbird, the unbeaten champion filly, who turned in another flawless workout at Del Mar as she stays on track for the Grade 1, $1 million Cotillion for 3-year-old fillies at Parx on Sept. 24.
Songbird bookended the summer training at Del Mar. But in between, she spent a month at Saratoga, where she won the Coaching Club American Oaks and Alabama to up her record to 10-0 and solidify her chances of repeating as a divisional champion after earning the Eclipse Award as champion 2-year-old filly last year.
CYPRESS, Calif. - Apprentice jockey Chad Lindsay will have a new agent with the start of the Los Angeles County Fair meeting at Los Alamitos on Thursday.
Lindsay recently hired Ron Ebanks to book his mounts. Ebanks is also the agent for Santiago Gonzalez, one of the circuit’s leading riders. Lindsay was previously represented by Vince DeGregory.
Through Sunday, Lindsay, 22, had six wins from 93 mounts at the Del Mar summer meeting. He had 34 career wins.
“He’s got a few months left with the bug and he wants to utilize it,” Ebanks said.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Del Mar had to refund $527,606 in wagers on Sunday after Papa Papa Papa was declared a non-starter in race 9. The stewards ruled his break from the gate had been compromised because the gate opened simultaneous to an assistant starter grabbing his head to keep him straightened.
It was an unfortunate, split-second incident, but Papa Papa Papa got off well behind the field, rushed up, then tired and was eased. Stewards ruled he had not been afforded a fair chance, and ordered refunds.
FRANKLIN, Ky. – Da Big Hoss, an earner of nearly $1.1 million since being claimed last fall, has been training right along since winning the American St. Leger Stakes at Arlington on Aug. 13, with his latest move being a five-furlong breeze Saturday in 1:01.80 at the Trackside training center in Louisville, Ky.
Mo Tom is a go for the Grade 3, $400,000 Super Derby at Louisiana Downs on Saturday.
Mo Tom breezed Monday at Churchill Downs and was scheduled to fly to Shreveport, La., on Tuesday, according to trainer Tom Amoss. Mo Tom, the winner of the Ohio Derby, worked a half-mile in 49.80 seconds.
“We’re definitely coming,” Amoss said after training hours Monday. “He got his last breeze in. We’ll get him there and look forward to running on Saturday.”
FRANKLIN, Ky. – All-sources handle for the opening-day card last Saturday at Kentucky Downs was $4,603,240, a record for a 10-race card at the turf-only track.
The Kentucky Downs record of $5,071,415 was set last Sept. 19 on a 13-race program, and track officials are hoping that mark will fall this Saturday without competition from Saratoga and Del Mar. It’s the premier card of a five-day meet that runs through Sept. 15, with the Grade 3 Kentucky Turf Cup highlighting a program that includes four stakes.
DEL MAR, Calif. - There were no rowdy celebrations Saturday evening after Union Strike won the $300,690 Del Mar Debutante to give trainer Shelbe Ruis her first Grade 1 victory.
Instead, it was straight home in advance of an early start Sunday. Even Sunday, as Ruis handled business for her 21-horse stable, the magnitude of the Debutante victory proved elusive.
“It’s still sinking in,” she said. “I can’t believe it. I knew she was a good horse.”
Magic Mark is approaching Saturday’s $75,000 E.B. Johnston Stakes at Los Alamitos in peak form.
On Sunday at Del Mar, Magic Mark worked a half-mile in 47.20 seconds, the fastest of 50 recorded works at the distance. The Johnston Stakes, run at a mile for California-breds, will be Magic Mark’s third start following a year-long layoff.
Magic Mark was fourth in the Thor’s Echo Stakes for California-bred sprinters at Santa Anita on July 4 and won a division of the Harry Brubaker Stakes against open company at a mile at Del Mar on Aug. 24, his second stakes win.
