The job trainer Jena Antonucci did in developing Arcangelo into the 3-year-old champion male of 2023 has set the table for potentially more success for her in the future.
While Antonucci believes the effect on her stable from Arcangelo winning the Belmont Stakes and Travers will be more apparent next year, she is back at Saratoga this summer with a large number of 2-year-olds, many of whom are likely to be seen during the 40-day meet that begins Thursday.
Three years after winning the Schuylerville Stakes with Pretty Birdie, trainer Norm Casse will try to duplicate that achievement Thursday when he sends out Slang in the $175,000 Schuylerville, the opening-day feature as Saratoga begins its 40-day meet.
Slang was one of 11 2-year-old fillies entered in the Schuylerville, a six-furlong race downgraded from a Grade 3 to a listed race for this year’s running. There are 11 races on Thursday’s opening-day card, each field having drawn 10 or more horses.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Headline Numbers, a 3-year-old daughter of Gun Runner, made an eye-catching debut Thursday at Aqueduct, winning a one-mile maiden race by 11 3/4 lengths, earning an 85 Beyer Speed Figure.
Trained by Chad Brown for Seth Klarman’s Klaravich Stables, Headline Numbers had shown three breezes last year before going off the work tab. She spent most of the winter and the early spring working at Fair Hill, a training center in Maryland, before shipping to Saratoga in May.
El Encinal, the narrow winner of the Group 1 Carlos Pellegrini Internacional in December, South America’s most prestigious race, is based in Southern California with trainer Mike Puype and bound for graded stakes this summer at Del Mar.
El Encinal, a 4-year-old Argentine-bred horse, won the Pellegrini at 1 1/2 miles on turf in Argentina in December, and joined Puype’s stable at Santa Anita earlier this spring. With the win in the Pellegrini, El Encinal earned a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Del Mar on Nov. 2.
Ellis Park in Henderson, Ky., will allow patrons into its racetrack and casino on Friday, one day after conducting its opening-day race card in front of an empty grandstand because of water issues.
First post for Friday’s live race card is 12:50 p.m. Eastern, and the track’s attached casino opened at 9 a.m., Ellis said in a Friday morning press release.
Jockey Barrington Harvey, 61, begins a 10-day suspension on Saturday for causing interference in the fifth race at Los Alamitos on June 23, which resulted in jockey John Valenzuela, Jr. being unseated from his mount.
Harvey was cited in a June 29 ruling by stewards Grant Baker, David Nuesch, and Kim Sawyer for crossing over without sufficient clearance. Harvey’s mount, Mischievous Dylan, was disqualified from second and listed as unplaced.
Eagles Flight, a half-brother to 2022 Horse of the Year Flightline, has sustained a “minor setback” and will miss the early weeks of the Del Mar summer meeting, trainer John Sadler said on Thursday.
A 3-year-old, Eagles Flight has started once, scoring an attractive win by 2 3/4 lengths in a six-furlong maiden race at Santa Anita on May 27. He had a half-mile workout on June 10, but has not had a published work in recent weeks.
“He’s had a little delay,” Sadler said. “He’ll be in training at Del Mar and maybe he’ll run toward the end of the meet.”
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Stilettos turned in one of the top performances by a 2-year-old filly this year on Saturday when she romped by 16 3/4 lengths in a maiden special weight at Lone Star Park.
Stilettos earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 76 for her career debut - a number that’s tied for fourth best among North American-based 2-year-old fillies. It’s the highest Beyer among all 2-year-olds this meet at Lone Star.
Tamara, the brilliant winner of the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante for 2-year-old fillies last September, is only in light training at Santa Anita with the hope she can have her 2024 debut this fall.
“I’m going easy,” trainer Richard Mandella said on Wednesday. “I’m going to take some time with her.”
Tamara was in training this spring with the intent of a start as soon as Saturday’s Grade 2 Great Lady M. Stakes at Los Alamitos. She has not worked since late May and is not scheduled to work in coming days, Mandella said.
