DEL MAR, Calif. – Midnight Storm emerged from his victory in the Grade 2 Eddie Read on Sunday in good condition, and now trainer Phil D’Amato has set his sights on the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Mile on Nov. 5 at Santa Anita. D’Amato said he needs to decide in the next couple of weeks the best way to get there, either with a race in between or by having Midnight Storm come into the Breeders’ Cup fresh.
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DRF Past Performances
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Todd Pletcher’s quest for his 13th Saratoga trainer’s title and Chad Brown’s bid for his first begin Friday, with both horsemen having top contenders in stakes run on the opening-day 10-race card.
In the Grade 2, $200,000 Lake George, for 3-year-old fillies on turf, Brown sends out Ancient Secret and Elysea’s World in a 12-horse field. Brown won last year’s Lake George with Mrs McDougal.
Emerald Downs-based trainer Monique Snowden apparently committed suicide Sunday evening. Snowden was thought to be distraught after a horse she trained, The Chilli Man, broke down in the $50,000 Emerald Express at Emerald on Sunday and had to be euthanized.
Snowden, 37, was thought to have jumped off a bridge into the Green River in Enumclaw, Wash.
Snowden was married to Dennis Snowden, who is the assistant trainer to Frank Lucarelli.
“Dennis said they found her car at the bridge,” Lucarelli said on Tuesday.
The nine West Virginia Breeders Classics races, scheduled for Oct. 8 at Charles Town, will be worth $90,000 more than a year ago. Total purses on this year's card will be $1.17 million.
The two most valuable races on the card, the $500,000 West Virginia Breeders Classic and the $150,000 West Virginia Cavada Breeders Classic, will have the same purses as in 2015. The other seven races are all worth more.
Trainer Al Stall Jr. said Tuesday morning that he and majority owner Seth Klarman have decided not to appeal Paid Up Subscriber’s second-place finish Saturday in the Delaware Handicap. Paid Up Subscriber, owned by Klarman’s Klaravich Stables and William H. Lawrence, was bumped at the start of the Delaware Handicap when winner I’m a Chatterbox broke in and crowded rivals.
"We're just going to move forward and concentrate on the next race," Stall said.
Trainer John Sadler said he doesn’t crank up his 2-year-olds – “If they win first time out, it’s because they’re pretty nice horses,” he said – so he’s particularly encouraged by Morganite, a daughter of Gemologist who was a debut winner against maiden 2-year-old fillies on Saturday at Del Mar.
“She’ll run once more here. I don’t know if she’ll run twice more here,” Sadler said. “I think she’s got a lot of quality, and she’ll be better when she goes farther. She’s got a lot of upside.”
The colt Chasing Aces wiped a 52-year-old track record from the books and posted the highest Beyer Speed Figure of the year among 2-year-olds with a dazzling victory against maidens on Sunday.
He sped five furlongs in 56.21 seconds while winning by 5 1/4 lengths over the well-regarded Straight Fire, who was another 5 1/2 lengths in front of the rest of the field.
The race was fast on raw time and when adjusted for the speed of the track, too. It came back a 101 from Team Beyer.
Florent Geroux will make a rare West Coast appearance Saturday when he rides Belvoir Bay in the Grade 2 $200,000 San Clemente Handicap for 3-year-old fillies at one mile on turf.
Belvoir Bay is owned in part by Gary Barber, who owns the brilliant turf filly Catch a Glimpse, whom Geroux also rides.
Other prominent prospects for the San Clemente include Be Mine, Pacific Heat, and Stays in Vegas, who was assigned the co-top weight of 122 pounds.
If Hard Aces goes in the Cougar II at Del Mar on Sunday, his most prominent opponent likely will be Hoppertunity, who worked six furlongs in 1:12 on Monday. Hoppertunity was assigned the top weight of 123 pounds for the Cougar II, one more than Hard Aces.
Hoppertunity was fourth behind Melatonin, Win the Space, and Hard Aces in the Santa Anita Gold Cup last time out. Flavien Prat, who rode Hoppertunity to a third-place finish in the Dubai World Cup, has the mount Sunday, according to trainer Bob Baffert.
[bc_video_id:388835:]The Delaware Park board of stewards in its daily log to the Delaware Racing Commission for the races of last Saturday states that the stewards began an inquiry into the start of the Delaware Handicap prior to a jockey’s objection.