Brickyard Ride, an eight-time stakes winner whose retirement was announced in February, will stand at stud in 2025 at Rancho San Miguel in San Miguel, Calif., according to a statement issued on Thursday.
Brickyard Ride will stand for $4,000.
By the prominent California stallion Clubhouse Ride, Brickyard Ride won 13 of 31 starts and earned $925,477, racing from 2019 to January of this year.
Senor Buscador, winner of the $20 million Saudi Cup in Saudi Arabia in February, is scheduled to have his summer debut in the Grade 2 Pat O’Brien Stakes at seven furlongs at Del Mar on Aug. 24.
Trainer Todd Fincher said on Friday that Senor Buscador will not run in the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap on July 27, a race the now 6-year-old horse won in 2023.
“We’ll miss the San Diego,” Fincher said. “We’ll aim for the Pat O’Brien. I think I’ve got him on schedule.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Though he is entered in Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park, Fierceness remained in Saratoga while his Todd Pletcher-trained stablemates Mindframe and Tuscan Sky were put on a van early Friday morning bound for Monmouth Park.
Provided there was no hiccup for Mindframe at Monmouth Saturday morning – à la the fever that forced Pletcher to scratch Mentee from the July 13 Sanford Stakes – then the Belmont Stakes runner-up will run in the Haskell and Fierceness will run in next Saturday’s Grade 2, $500,000 Jim Dandy Stakes.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Kingsbarns, the Grade 1 Stephen Foster winner, returned to the work tab Friday morning in Saratoga but he will bypass the Grade 1 Whitney Stakes here on Aug. 3 and point to the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup at Saratoga on Sept. 1, trainer Todd Pletcher said.
Pletcher said the Jockey Club, at 1 1/4 miles, will be used as a stepping-stone to the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar on Nov. 1.
The Minnesota Thoroughbred Association, which administered an annual yearling sale and stallion season auction for Minnesota-bred horses, has disbanded, according to board members of the organization.
The association, which was founded in 1971 to promote the state’s breeding program, voted to disband in late June due to a lack of funding, according to Dorothy Erban, a board member.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer Jeremiah Englehart has sent out a pair of 2-year-olds to win their debuts by 10 or more lengths so far this year, and they may not be the best juveniles he has in his barn.
On Wednesday, the New York-bred filly Bellacose won her debut by 10 3/4 lengths, running 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:05.08 and earning a 71 Beyer Speed Figure. Last month, at Aqueduct, Mo Plex won a 2-year-old maiden race by 10 lengths, then came back here on July 13 to win the Grade 3 Sanford by a length.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - While he hasn’t officially shut the door on running Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan again this year, trainer Ken McPeek said Thursday he is really focused on having him prepared for a good 4-year-old season.
Mystik Dan was the only horse to run in all three Triple Crown races, finishing second in the Preakness and eighth in the Belmont Stakes following his Kentucky Derby win. Mystik Dan remained in Saratoga for several weeks, but really wasn’t training, before McPeek decided to send him to Kentucky right before the Saratoga meet started.
The roster of eight horses trainer Kent Sweezey brought to Del Mar for the summer meeting is likely to change in the next few months.
Sweezey, 38, will race at Del Mar for the first time this year, and said on Thursday that his stable consists mostly of claiming-class horses that race on dirt. He said he will not be surprised if some runners are claimed, and that he plans to be active in claiming horses.
“We’ll try to be pretty aggressive,” he said. “I’ve got some new guys that want to claim.”
Jockey Tyler Baze is aiming for a return to riding on the first weekend of August at Del Mar after sustaining a hand injury in a post parade at Los Alamitos on June 22.
Baze said on Thursday that he is the midst of a six-week mandatory break because of California workman’s compensation rules. Baze plans to return in time to ride Sugar Fish in the Grade 1 Clement Hirsch Stakes against older fillies and mares at Del Mar on Aug. 3.
“I can’t wait,” he said. “I hope she’s as good as I think she is.”
Summer is showtime for precocious California 2-year-olds, and though a handful already won impressively at Santa Anita, Los Alamitos, and Churchill Downs, the elite typically emerge in summer at Del Mar.
In the 40-year history of the Breeders’ Cup, some 15 BC Juvenile winners and 12 BC Juvenile Fillies winners made summer starts at Del Mar. During the same period, eight colts who raced as 2-year-olds at Del Mar in summer won the Kentucky Derby the following spring.
