SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Keen Ice, who upset American Pharoah in last year’s Travers, worked three furlongs in 38.33 seconds Friday morning, his first work in five months and his first for his new trainer, Todd Pletcher.
“Just your standard, easy, three-eighths, first work back; seemed to do it well in hand with a decent-enough gallop-out that we’ll proceed to a half-mile from there,” Pletcher said.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Not every horse on the grounds put in a timed workout Friday. It just seemed that way.
Still, one day after there were 451 recorded works, 90 horses put in workouts Saturday morning, though some were in the fog, which was prevalent during early training hours.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Bob Frieze, the former jockey agent who represented Hall of Famers such as Jerry Bailey, Edgar Prado, and Eddie Maple, will have a major rooting interest in Sunday’s Olympic equestrian show-jumping event when his granddaughter Lucy Davis competes for Team USA.
The horse Davis rides, Barron, is named for Frieze, whose middle name is Barron. Frieze left Saratoga, where he owns a home, Friday to attend the games in Rio.
Davis, 23, attended college at Stanford University in California but would often complete in Wellington, Fla.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Shh She’s Ours, the winner of the Desert Stormer Stakes at Santa Anita in June, will miss Wednesday’s $100,000 Rancho Bernardo Handicap for fillies and mares at Del Mar because of a quarter crack.
Trainer Jim Cassidy said the quarter crack was detected recently and that Shh She’s Ours has shown improvement. Cassidy said Shh She’s Ours will be pointed for the $100,000 L.A. Woman Stakes for fillies and mares at Santa Anita on Oct. 9.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Win the Space, a 4-year-old colt trained by George Papaprodromou, has shown significant improvement in recent months, finishing second and third in graded stakes.
The problem is his competition. Win the Space is part of a division that includes California Chrome, the 2014 Horse of the Year, the millionaire Dortmund, and the three-time champion Beholder. They are the leading contenders for the $1 million Pacific Classic at Del Mar next Saturday, a race also on Win the Space’s schedule.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Eric Guillot knows that Laoban is unlikely to get loose on the lead in an expected full field for the Travers Stakes on Aug. 27 like he did when he upset a six-horse Jim Dandy field at 27-1 on July 30.
Guillot would like to teach Laoban to sit behind horses, and on a busy Friday morning, Laoban got quite the education. On a day when hundreds of horses put in timed workouts at Saratoga, Laoban worked five furlongs in 1:01.42 over the main track.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – With rain canceling the majority of workouts scheduled here for the past two days and even heavier precipitation in the forecast for the weekend, there was action aplenty over all three Saratoga racetracks on Friday morning.
Lone Star Park will open and close its Thoroughbred meet about a week later than usual next year after receiving approval from the Texas Racing Commission. The Dallas-area track was granted a 50-date meet from April 20-July 30.
Sam Houston’s meet for Thoroughbreds will run 32 dates from Jan. 20-March 14. Retama Park was granted a 26-date Thoroughbred meet for next year, from Sept. 1-Nov. 25.
Trainer Danele Durham and her children were pleasantly surprised when they were able to purchase the broodmare Soft Music for $1,700 during last fall’s Heritage Place auction in Oklahoma City.
The bargain buy has been gaining traction all spring.
