Whereas some recent programs at Gulfstream Park have been found noticeably lacking in high-end races, that is not the case for the Thursday card at the south Florida track.
Three allowances, all part of the Rainbow 6 sequence (races 5-10), anchor a 10-race card that starts at 12:50 p.m. Eastern. The Rainbow 6 started a five-day race week Wednesday with a $86,148 jackpot.
DEL MAR, Calif. – All the Marbles, a promising turf runner trained by Marty Jones, had to be euthanized Sunday morning shortly after suffering a catastrophic ankle fracture just as he was completing a workout on the turf course, becoming the 16th equine fatality, either racing or training, since the meet began July 15. There were nine such fatalities at last year’s summer meet.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Well Measured and Navy Hymn were ruled to have finished in a dead heat in race 8 on Sunday, but a win picture released by Del Mar following the race prompted trainer Peter Miller to question whether his horse, Well Measured, had won the race outright.
Miller on Monday said he and Well Measured’s owners – including Gary Barber and Michael Wellman – were going to file a complaint with the California Horse Racing Board.
DEL MAR, Calif. – With Grade 1 Bing Crosby winner Lord Nelson awaiting the fall Santa Anita meeting, Masochistic will head up a small field in the Grade 2, $200,000 Pat O’Brien Stakes going seven furlongs on Saturday.
Masochistic returned from an eight-month layoff to win an optional-claiming race at Santa Anita on July 8. His rivals are expected to include Vyjack, who will be making his first start in California and his first since being transferred to trainer Phil D’Amato. Vyjack worked a half-mile on Monday in 48.40 seconds.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Trainer Phil D’Amato ended the race week with a victory on Sunday by Midnight Storm in the Grade 2 Del Mar Mile, and on Monday morning, he set about trying to have similar results this weekend, sending out Enola Gray and Bellamentary to work for the Grade 3, $100,000 Torrey Pines Stakes on Sunday.
The Torrey Pines, at one mile for 3-year-old fillies, has proven to be an important stepping-stone in recent years. Stellar Wind won it last year and Beholder in 2013. Both won Eclipse Awards those in years.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – A full field of 14 was expected to be entered Tuesday for Saturday’s Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers at Saratoga, bringing together two classic winners, four other graded stakes winners, and a host of late bloomers who are looking to find their place in the 3-year-old division.
Bettors who arrive early for a special Wednesday card at Gulfstream Park can take an edge rarely available.
A carryover of $78,838 in the super high five will be up for grabs when the first of eight races is run at the south Florida track. It’s one of a trio of Wednesday carryovers, along with $86,148 in the 20-cent Rainbow 6 (races 3-8) and $29,977 in the late pick five (races 4-8).
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Strut the Course, the 2014 Canadian champion older female, is on track to defend her title from last year’s Grade 2, $200,000 Canadian Stakes when the race is run Sept. 17 at 1 1/8 miles on the E.P. Taylor turf course as part of the Woodbine Mile card.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Del Mar set a single-day track record of $25,060,204 for all-sources handle on Saturday’s Pacific Classic Day program, a boost to a summer meeting that has had a decline in business compared with 2015.
Saturday’s handle figure for the 11-race card included ontrack, satellite, and account-wagering sources. It surpassed the previous track record of $24,667,351 set on Pacific Classic Day in 2007.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - After convincingly winning the two Grade 1 route races for 3-year-old fillies at Saratoga, Songbird arrived back in Southern California early Monday morning with her unbeaten record intact and with a hardened core for the more difficult challenges that lay ahead.
Songbird came out of her seven-length victory in Saturday’s Alabama “beautifully,” trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said Sunday afternoon.
