DEL MAR, Calif. – American Freedom, who will get tested for class when he takes on Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist in the Haskell Invitational on Sunday at Monmouth Park, completed his serious training for the race with a workout on Tuesday morning at Del Mar that was officially timed in 47 seconds, but that trainer Bob Baffert took out an additional furlong in 59.40 seconds.
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DRF Past Performances
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- All-sources handle was up but ontrack business was down through the first four days of the 2016 Saratoga meet.
All-sources handle was $73,325,266, a 6.8 percent increase over the first four days of the 2015 Saratoga season when $68,653,296 was wagered. Ontrack handle was $16,315,659, a 5.7 decline from the $17,304,651 wagered in 2015.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin has gotten off to a blazing start at this meeting, winning with six of his first eight runners, including Girl Talk in Monday’s first race and Watershed in the seventh.
McLaughlin kicked off the meet with wins on opening day by Sentiero Italia and Takrees. He won two more Sunday with Farhaan and Gap Year, who returned $42.80. Last year, Gap Year won here on closing day as the 2-1 favorite.
“I like this,” McLaughlin said. “We often finish strong. This year, we’re off to a quick start.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Tale of Verve, best known for running second to American Pharoah in the 2015 Preakness, ended an eight-race losing streak Saturday when he beat My Man Sam in a first-level allowance race at Saratoga.
Trainer Dallas Stewart hopes that’s a harbinger of success for the summer, as he has several horses pointed to major stakes races here.
Forever Unbridled, a troubled-trip second in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps, is being pointed to the Personal Ensign on Aug. 27, though she is nominated to the Grade 1, $1.25 million Whitney on Aug. 6.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Jorge Navarro is planning to run three horses in Saturday’s Grade 1, $350,000 Alfred G. Vanderbilt at Saratoga.
Leading the trio is Delta Bluesman, who has won four consecutive races, including the Grade 2 Smile Sprint at Gulfstream Park on July 2. Navarro is also planning to run Catalina Red, the winner of the Grade 2 Churchill Downs Stakes, and Chublicious, a winner of his last two, including the Mr. Prospector at Monmouth on June 26.
Navarro said he was originally intending to give Delta Bluesman a 40- to 50-day freshening.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Jockeys Alex Jimenez and Tyler Baze were fined $500 for excessive use of the whip, and Florent Geroux was given a three-day suspension for causing interference in a race, according to rulings issued over the weekend by Del Mar stewards.
Geroux was suspended three days for failing to maintain a straight course in the fifth race on Saturday aboard Calculator, who finished third in an optional claimer. Geroux indicated to the stewards that he planned to appeal to the California Horse Racing Board.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Mokat had only two works in the month prior to the $201,725 San Clemente Handicap for 3-year-old fillies on turf at Del Mar on Saturday. That was all she needed.
Mokat won her first start since May in the Grade 2 San Clemente and is being pointed to the $300,000 Del Mar Oaks on Aug. 20. The Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks is run at 1 1/8 miles on turf.
DEL MAR, Calif. – While the Clement L. Hirsch Stakes on Saturday, featuring champions Beholder and Stellar Wind, is certainly the marquee race of the week at Del Mar, the weekend’s other Grade 1, $300,000 race, the Bing Crosby, looks as though it will have a strong, deep field of sprinters for its 71st running on Sunday.
Lord Nelson and Subtle Indian, first and second in last month’s Grade 1 Triple Bend at Santa Anita, head a prospective field that includes the hard-hitting Midwest invader Alsvid and the fleet 3-year-old Justin Squared.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Steeplechase races at this meet will have a new configuration that could impact your handicapping.
The midstretch fence will be removed for the final lap, meaning that the last three-eighths of a mile of these races will be contested like a flat race. In 2 1/16-mile races, horses will jump over eight fences instead of nine. At 2 3/8 miles, horses will jump over nine fences instead of 10.