SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Aside from having similar names, there is very little similar about the paths Songbird and Bird Song have taken to this point of their 3-year-old campaigns. And while trainer Ian Wilkes knows that Bird Song is no Songbird, he does believe the best is yet to come for him.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The connections of Lady Eli have purchased the horse Sympathy from Highclere America and intend to use her as a pacemaker in Saturday’s Grade 2, $400,000 Ballston Spa Stakes.
Sol Kumin, whose Sheep Pond Partners owns part of Lady Eli, said he finalized a deal to buy Sympathy on Sunday.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – After Triple Crown winner American Pharoah got beat in last year’s Travers – the only loss of his Horse of the Year campaign – many probably thought that trainer Bob Baffert wouldn’t return to Saratoga for many years.
Not only is Baffert back, but he is bringing four horses to Saratoga this week, including American Freedom and Arrogate for Saturday’s Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers Stakes.
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.
