DEL MAR, Calif. – Straight Fire has been so sharp in recent training that trainer Keith Desormeaux is unsure what to expect when the 2-year-old has his debut in a maiden race at five furlongs at Del Mar on Sunday.
“He’s done everything so easily, you wonder how fit he is,” Desormeaux said. “My horses usually need a race, so we’ll hope for the best. The good thing is he’s shown a lot of talent.”
DEL MAR, Calif. – Cheekaboo and Pacific Heat have led trainer Peter Eurton’s 3-year-old filly division on turf this year, each winning two stakes.
Fortunately for Eurton and the fillies’ owners, there are enough stakes on the first two weekends of the Del Mar summer meeting to keep them apart. Cheekaboo starts in Sunday’s $75,000 Sandy Blue Handicap at 1 1/8 miles on turf. Pacific Heat is a candidate for the $200,000 San Clemente Handicap at a mile on turf July 23.
The races can be considered semifinals for the $300,000 Del Mar Oaks, a Grade 1 at 1 1/8 miles on Aug. 20.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Carina Mia tuned up for her confrontation with division leader Songbird in the Coaching Club American Oaks next Sunday with an impressive five-furlong work over the Oklahoma training track on Friday.
Carina Mia posted splits of 12.80 seconds and 35.80 en route to a final clocking of 58.80 before galloping out six furlongs in 1:11.80 and pulling up seven furlongs in 1:26, according to Daily Racing Form clocker Mike Vesce. Vesce described the work as “eye-catching” and said she went so easily that she appeared to have gone in 1:02.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Starting Sunday, the New York Racing Association will embark on a time-sensitive project to widen the Belmont Park training track.
Construction will begin almost immediately after training hours end Sunday, and the hope is that the project will be completed and the training track reopened by the time the Saratoga meet ends on Labor Day, Sept. 5.
The stretches will be widened by about 17 feet. The far turn will be widened by 18 feet, and the first turn will be widened by about 13 feet.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Lubash is the reigning two-time New York-bred male turf champion, an 11-time stakes winner, and an earner of $1.3 million. But has age finally caught up to the 9-year-old son of Freud, who has won 16 of his 48 career starts?
Lubash enters Saturday’s $150,000 Forbidden Apple Stakes at Belmont Park having run two subpar races to begin the year. He was fifth, beaten nine lengths, in the Danger’s Hour Stakes at Aqueduct, and fourth, beaten 4 1/4 lengths, in the Kingston Stakes in May. Both races were run over turf courses listed “yielding.”
ELMONT, N.Y. – The $125,000 Rockville Centre Stakes drew only five New York-bred juveniles and is likely to go with just four runners Saturday. But the race still should be competitive, with the stakes winner Silver Mission taking on the impressive debut winner Runaway Lute.
Silver Mission, a son of Mission Impazible trained by Todd Pletcher for Twin Creeks Racing, is 2 for 2, including a 6 1/4-length victory in the Tremont Stakes on June 10.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Tom Amoss was hoping to more clearly determine where he stood with his top 3-year-old, Mo Tom, once he breezed him a half-mile Thursday morning at Saratoga. But when Mo Tom completed the distance in 50.36 seconds and galloped out five furlongs in 1:05, Amoss didn’t get all the answers he was looking for.
The work was Mo Tom’s first since winning the Grade 3 Ohio Derby three weeks ago. Mo Tom rallied to finish eighth in the Kentucky Derby.
Add American Freedom to the lineup for the Grade 1, $1 million Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park on July 31.
In his first work since his victory July 1 in the Iowa Derby at Prairie Meadows, American Freedom worked a strong five furlongs in 59.20 seconds on Thursday at Del Mar under jockey Rafael Bejarano, after which trainer Bob Baffert said he would be pointed to the Haskell.
“That was a good work for this track,” Baffert said of American Freedom, who worked in company, going from the half-mile pole out to the seven-furlong pole.
DEL MAR, Calif. – It has been nearly 20 months since California Chrome last was at Del Mar, but he settled right in after arriving Wednesday afternoon, then took a tour of the main track early Thursday morning as he readies for a key workout on Saturday, one that will be open to the public.
Jockey Iram Diego has never had a better year at the track in 14 years in the saddle, and it’s only July. Not only has he surpassed his personal-best totals for wins and mount earnings, he also celebrated a five-win day for the first time in his career last Sunday at Lone Star Park.
There could be more where that came from Friday night. Diego is well mounted for one of the track’s final programs of the meet, with stakes winner Meme Jo leading a turf-sprint allowance and Bim Bam making his first start since setting a course record in June.
