Fri, 07/22/2016 - 14:30

Frosted, Mohaymen among McLaughlin workers

Barbara D. Livingston
Frosted works five furlongs in 1:00.56 at Greentree on Friday. He runs next in the Grade 1 Whitney at Saratoga on Aug. 6.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The success of trainer Kiaran McLaughlin’s Saratoga meet will primarily boil down to one day – Aug. 6. That’s the day he will run many of his big stakes horses, led by Frosted, who on Friday worked five furlongs in 1:00.56 over the synthetic surface at the Greentree facility in Saratoga Springs.

Fri, 07/22/2016 - 13:56

Miyadi gets fine, suspension for medication violation

DEL MAR, Calif. – Trainer Steve Miyadi has been fined $5,000 and suspended 30 days after Run for Retts tested positive for the prohibited substances methamphetamine and amphetamine following the $100,500 Soviet Problem Stakes at Los Alamitos last December.

Fri, 07/22/2016 - 13:38

Taris has minor setback

Kim Pratt
Taris has some minor bone bruising, trainer Simon Callaghan said, and won't start at Del Mar or Saratoga.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Taris, the winner of the Grade 1 Humana Distaff for female sprinters at Churchill Downs in May, will not start this summer because of a minor injury.

“She’s got a little bone bruising,” trainer Simon Callaghan said. “It’s minor. We have to realign our sights.”

Callaghan said on Friday that he remains hopeful that Taris can start in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Santa Anita on Nov. 5.

“She won’t run here, and she won’t run at Saratoga,” Callaghan said. “We’ll look to Santa Anita and maybe prep for the Breeders’ Cup.”

Fri, 07/22/2016 - 13:38

Cathryn Sophia has first Spa work

Barbara D. Livingston
For the first time since Smarty Jones finished second in the 2004 Belmont Stakes, trainer John Servis and owner Chuck Zacney are back on Belmont Stakes Day with Cathryn Sophia, winner of the Kentucky Oaks and likely favorite for the Acorn.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Cathryn Sophia made her first local appearance Friday, breezing a half-mile over the Oklahoma training track with jockey Javier Castellano aboard. According to Daily Racing Form clocker Mike Vesce, Cathryn Sophia completed the distance in 50 seconds, going very easily before galloping out five-eighths in 1:03.60

“Javier was very happy with her,” said trainer John Servis, who was not on hand for the work. “I’m just using this work as a stepping-stone to start moving forward to see where we’re at with her.”

Fri, 07/22/2016 - 13:25

Gate work puts Upstart on his toes

Barbara D. Livingston
Upstart worked from the gate on Friday in an attempt to teach him to break faster in his races.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Rick Violette said he doesn’t really like to work older horses from the gate. But he made an exception here Friday with the star of his stable, the multiple graded stakes winner Upstart, who sizzled four furlongs from the gate in 46.31 seconds with jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. aboard.

Upstart has shown a tendency to break tardily, and Violette was hoping Friday’s experience might help alleviate that problem prior to the Grade 1 Whitney here on Aug. 6.

Fri, 07/22/2016 - 13:25

Tepin gets back to work on Saratoga turf

Barbara D. Livingston
Tepin breezes a half-mile in 50.39 seconds over the Oklahoma turf course Friday morning.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – In her first workout since her triumphant trip to Royal Ascot, Tepin breezed a half-mile in 50.39 seconds Friday morning in preparation for a likely start in the Grade 1, $500,000 Fourstardave Handicap here on Aug. 13.

Fri, 07/22/2016 - 12:17

Stradivari suffers career-ending injury

Barbara D. Livingston
Stradivari trains on Friday before sustaining a career-ending injury.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Stradivari, who ran in two of the three Triple Crown races, suffered a career-ending injury during a workout Friday morning at Saratoga.

According to trainer Todd Pletcher, Stradivari has a lateral condylar fracture and an axial fracture of a sesamoid in his right foreleg. As of Friday afternoon, he was resting comfortably in a stall at the Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Saratoga Springs. The hope is that he continues to do well over the weekend and can undergo surgery Monday.

Fri, 07/22/2016 - 11:56

Borel maintains low profile as Bradley's house guest

Barbara D. Livingston
Divisidero (left) is unlikely to run in the Aug. 13 Arlington Million.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The dog days of summer might qualify as downtime for some folks on the Kentucky racing circuit, but not Buff Bradley.

Bradley was as busy as ever this week. After having to grin and bear the disqualification of Nawlins Kitty from first to eighth Wednesday in the $100,000 Ta Wee Stakes at Indiana Grand, Bradley was getting ready to board a New Jersey-bound plane the following morning to run Divine Warrior on Saturday in the Grade 3 Jersey Shore at Monmouth Park.

Fri, 07/22/2016 - 11:20

Sunny Ridge faces big ask in Haskell

Michael Amoruso
Sunny Ridge, here winning the Withers, came out of his fourth-place finish in the Gotham a little tired, said trainer Jason Servis.

Trainer Jason Servis confirmed Thursday that Grade 3 Withers winner Sunny Ridge will return to the races in the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park next Sunday.

Sunny Ridge has missed time with a pulled gluteal muscle after finishing fourth in the Grade 3 Gotham at Aqueduct on March 5. He has recorded five workouts at Monmouth Park since June 20. He had his second five-furlong work at Monmouth on Thursday.

“He’s doing pretty good,” Servis said. “Is it an ideal situation? No way. It’s tough to go in a 1 1/8-miles Grade 1 off a five-month layoff without a prep.”

Fri, 07/22/2016 - 11:16

Awesome Slew on rise just in time for Haskell

Bill Denver/Equi-Photo
Awesome Slew won an allowance sprint at Monmouth (above) in his first start of the year, then finished third in the Pegasus.

Last year, trainer Eddie Plesa Jr. ran Pegasus Stakes winner Mr. Jordan against Triple Crown winner American Pharoah in the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park. A 26-1 longshot, Mr. Jordan finished last of seven.

Plesa will have another Haskell longshot next Sunday in Awesome Slew, but that’s where the comparison of the two horses ends. Plesa thinks very highly of Awesome Slew, a late-developing son of Awesome Again, and believes he is ready to run the best race of his career in the Haskell.