DEL MAR, Calif. – Baruta has been a busy mare at Del Mar this summer, winning an allowance race in the first week of the meet in July and finishing second in the Grade 3 Rancho Bernardo Handicap on Aug. 16.
There is time for one more start and a potential first stakes win Sunday in the $80,000 CERF Stakes for fillies and mares at six furlongs.
“I hope I’m not running her in one race too many, but she seems like she’s good right now,” trainer Richard Mandella said.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Trainer Jeff Mullins had an ideal start to the Del Mar summer meeting, winning with four of his first seven starters July 16-18. Mullins could finish the meeting Monday with an equally strong flourish.
Rockin Bayou is the stable’s hope Monday in the $300,000 Del Mar Futurity, the top race of the summer meeting for 2-year-olds. American Pharoah won the 2014 Del Mar Futurity.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Tonalist, third in the Grade 1 Whitney last out, was briefly under consideration for Saturday’s Grade 1 Woodward Stakes, but ultimately his connections opted to stick to the plan and point him to the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park on Oct. 3.
Tonalist, who won last year’s Gold Cup, worked five furlongs in 1:01.98 on Thursday over Saratoga’s Oklahoma training track.
Track clockers caught Tonalist in fractions of 12.80 seconds, 24.66, 49.03 and had him galloping out six furlongs in 1:15.45.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Though Bar of Gold won her first two starts sprinting, trainer John Kimmel always thought the New York-bred daughter of Medaglia d’Oro would ultimately be better going a route of ground. So far, that hasn’t been the case.
Coming off a very strong second-place finish in the Grade 1 Test going seven furlongs, Bar of Gold will shorten up to six furlongs for Sunday’s Grade 2, $300,000 Prioress Stakes.
Bar of Gold drew post 7 in an 11-horse field for the Prioress, which is topped by Test winner Cavorting, who drew post 10.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Wild in the Saddle, refreshed from an early-summer trip to the farm, won her second stakes of 2015 in the $108,330 Tranquility Lake Stakes for fillies and mares Wednesday at Del Mar.
Wild in the Saddle ($40.40) won the Tranquility Lake at 1 1/16 miles by three-quarters of a length over My Monet.
Wild in the Saddle was given a break at owner Nadine Anderson’s farm in Hemet, Calif., after a fourth-place finish behind division leader Beholder in the Grade 3 Adoration Stakes at Santa Anita on June 13.
Santa Anita will reopen for training Saturday in advance of the autumn meeting that begins Sept. 26.
In recent weeks, the barn area was closed, with stables relocating primarily to Del Mar, Los Alamitos, and the San Luis Rey Downs training center. The barn area was closed in mid-July, coinciding with the start of the Del Mar summer meeting and allowing track maintenance crews to paint, repair stalls, and improve drainage in a space that can house 2,000 horses.
The track’s stable area reopened Friday. Most Santa Anita-based stables will begin leaving Del Mar on Sunday.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – There will be some familiar names in the starting gate for Monday’s Grade 1 Hopeful and one not so familiar to local fans – Bullet Gone Astray, who will give trainer Henry Collazo his first stakes opportunity at Saratoga.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Young Brian, a maiden winner who was declared from Monday’s $300,000 Del Mar Futurity because of a sesamoid injury, was scheduled to undergo a bone scan Thursday to determine whether he can race again.
Trainer Phil D’Amato said scans will be reviewed by veterinarians around the country to determine a plan. There is a possibility that Young Brian will be retired to stud, D’Amato said.
“We’re going to evaluate and see if there’s a chance for a comeback,” D’Amato said. “We’ll check with the specialists.”
DEL MAR, Calif. – Trainer Phil D’Amato is hoping a rider change will reverse the fortunes of Papacoolpapacool when the two-time stakes winner starts Sunday in the $250,000 Del Mar Derby.
D’Amato said Tiago Pereira will ride Papacoolpapacool in the Grade 2 Del Mar Derby, replacing Gary Stevens. Stevens is not sitting the race out. He is booked to ride Om, the runner-up in the Grade 2 La Jolla Handicap on Aug. 9.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – One horse conspicuous by her absence when entries were drawn for Saturday’s Grade 1 Spinaway was Off the Tracks, whose connections had been pointing her to the race since her 3 1/4-length victory in the Grade 3 Schuylerville on opening day.
