SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The absence of Thorpedo Anna is likely to mean Saturday’s Grade 1, $600,000 Alabama for 3-year-old fillies at Saratoga will attract a large field. Among the top contenders will be Power Squeeze, who has won 4 of 6 starts this year, most recently the Grade 3 Delaware Oaks, which she won by a nose over Sidamara.
While the narrow margin of victory might not look impressive, Jorge Delgado, trainer of Power Squeeze, believes there was more to the story.
The Grade 3 Best Pal Stakes for 2-year-olds at Del Mar on Sunday has a projected field of five, including White Sands who is also entered in Saturday’s Grade 3 Sorrento Stakes for fillies.
The maiden race winners Getaway Car, Mischief River, and Tiz Happy are scheduled to start in the $150,000 Best Pal Stakes at six furlongs along with Ivan the Great, a maiden who was a well-beaten third in the Bashford Manor Stakes at Churchill Downs on June 30.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - With the threat of inclement weather creating the likelihood of a wet track in Saratoga all weekend, trainer Kenny McPeek called an audible and decided to move up a workout from Saturday to Thursday for the 3-year-old filly Thorpedo Anna.
After watching the three-time Grade 1 stakes winner breeze five furlongs in 59.40 seconds under exercise rider Danny Ramsey over the Oklahoma training track, McPeek’s confidence in Thorpedo Anna swelled as she prepares to take on the boys in the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers Stakes on Aug 24.
A box seat for the California Crown program at Santa Anita on Sept. 28 will be very pricey.
According to the event’s website, Californiacrown.com, box seats are available for $1,200, while trackside reserved seats past the finish line are for sale for $1,500. A portion of the clubhouse restaurant will have seats available from $750 to $1,000.
General admission tickets are $25.
As the breeder and co-owner of five of the eight runners in the $101,000 CTBA Stakes at Del Mar last Sunday, it was little surprise that Terry Lovingier was involved with the first three finishers.
A similar scenario may develop in Friday’s $100,000 Graduation Stakes for statebred 2-year-olds at 5 1/2 furlongs. Of the nine entrants, Lovingier bred five and has an ownership stake in three starters, including the colt Bodacious.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Manfred and Penny Conrad are no strangers to racing success, having won the 2018 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint with longshot Shamrock Rose about five years after diving into the sport with Mark Casse as their trainer.
The Conrads own two prime contenders for the $1 million King’s Plate on Aug. 17 at Woodbine, Essex Serpent and Midnight Mascot. The duo ran first and third in the Grade 3 Marine on June 29, with Essex Serpent prevailing with a big 89 Beyer Speed Figure in just his third career start and first race around two turns.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- Irad Ortiz Jr., the leading rider at the Saratoga meet, will serve a three-day suspension, Aug. 14-16, for his ride aboard On a Spree in the seventh race here on Aug. 1.
The stewards deemed that On a Spree interfered with Complete Agenda at the top of the stretch of that turf race. On a Spree was disqualified from first and placed second behind Complete Agenda, ridden by Flavien Prat, who had finished second.
The repercussions of moving the Ruidoso Downs meeting to The Downs at Albuquerque because of a damaged Ruidoso Downs racing surface has created a blockbuster program on Labor Day, Sept. 2.
The $3 million All American Futurity and $250,000 All American Gold Cup for older horses were scheduled for Sept. 2 and will be joined that afternoon by the $700,000 All American Derby and $500,000 All American Oaks for fillies, which have been postponed from Sept. 1.
White Sands, the easy winner of two starts in the Midwest, will have her first start in a graded stakes at Del Mar this weekend. The actual race will be determined.
As of Wednesday, trainer Wesley Ward was unsure whether White Sands would start in Saturday’s Grade 3 Sorrento Stakes against 2-year-old fillies, or Sunday’s Grade 3 Best Pal Stakes against males. Both races are worth $150,000 and run at 6 1/2 furlongs.
“I might enter both and make a decision,” Ward said.
Chismosa, the winner of two sprint stakes at Santa Anita earlier this year, was given a brief furlough from extensive training last month in advance of a scheduled start in the Grade 3 Rancho Bernardo Stakes for fillies and mares at Del Mar on Aug. 25.
Chismosa finished seventh of 10 in the Great Lady M. Stakes at Los Alamitos on July 6, her worst result in eight starts this year.
“We decided to give her a rest,” said owner and breeder Jaime Renella. “She’s been running way too often.”
