DEL MAR, Calif. – Gimme Da Lute might be bound for Pennsylvania after winning his fourth stakes of the year in the $200,000 Real Good Deal Stakes for California-bred 3-year-olds last Sunday.
Trainer Bob Baffert said on Thursday that Gimme Da Lute is a candidate for the $1 Pennsylvania Derby at Parx Racing on Sept. 19.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Mrazek won his first stakes in Wednesday’s $100,000 Graduation Stakes for California-breds at Del Mar, and his late-summer plans will not be finalized until this weekend at the earliest.
Owners Paul and Zillah Reddam and trainer Doug O’Neill are running Nyquist in Saturday’s $200,000 Best Pal Stakes for 2-year-olds at 6 1/2 furlongs. If Nyquist runs well, he will be pointed to the $300,000 Del Mar Futurity on Sept. 7. If he runs poorly, Mrazek could be a candidate for the Del Mar Futurity.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Arranmore Girl, a 2-year-old filly who won a minor race in England in April, was euthanized after sustaining an injury in a workout at Del Mar on Thursday, track officials said.
The filly’s exercise rider, Fernando Aguilar, was taken to a local hospital for treatment, according to track officials.
DEL MAR, Calif. – A victory by Tara’s Tango in an optional claimer at Del Mar on Wednesday will lead to a seven-figure stakes race in Pennsylvania next month.
Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said on Thursday that Tara’s Tango is likely to make her next start in the $1 million Cotillion Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles at Parx Racing on Sept. 19.
“We’re going to look at the Cotillion,” Hollendorfer said. “It’s a big purse, and we think she’s deserves to try something like that.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Regardless of whether Triple Crown winner American Pharoah runs, attendance for the Travers Stakes on Aug. 29 at Saratoga will be capped at 50,000, the New York Racing Association announced Thursday.
In reaction to bad publicity over logistical problems at the 2014 Belmont Stakes, NYRA implemented an attendance cap of 90,000 for the Belmont Stakes, and officials were happy with the results.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The first set of races in the Florida Sire Stakes drew a total of 66 entries, with trainer Stanley Gold accounting for eight of them in the seven stakes to be run Saturday at Gulfstream Park.
Gold and owner-breeder Jacks or Better Farm, already the respective leaders with 16 wins in a series dating to 1982, will be represented by major contenders in the co-featured Dr. Fager and Desert Vixen, both of them $200,000 races for 2-year-olds at six furlongs.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Miss Frost won two stakes in 19 days last summer at Saratoga, but she hasn’t won since. On Saturday, she returns to the Spa in a contentious field of 12 entered in the $100,000 De La Rose Stakes for fillies and mares going a mile on the turf.
Overall, Miss Frost is 3 for 4 at Saratoga, with a third-place finish. She will have to find that Saratoga form.
Recent allowance winners Ticking Katie and Token of Love will advance into stakes company, while Stellar Path, third in the Grade 3 Eatontown, was perhaps hoping to find softer company in this spot.
Allied Air Raid will be trainer Brad Cox’s first Louisiana Downs starter in the $100,000 Prelude on Saturday, and for the occasion Cox wanted to lock up a rider familiar with the Bossier City track. He was able to secure one of the best on the grounds in Richard Eramia, who is chasing after his fifth straight title at Louisiana Downs.
“He’s the leading rider; he obviously knows the track,” Cox said Wednesday. “I’ve never raced there myself and thought I’d get the top pilot if I could.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Unlike Friday’s Hall of Fame Stakes, in which he entered five horses, trainer Chad Brown only entered three in Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Waya Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 1/2 miles.
Brown entered Danza Cavallo, Goldy Espony, and Helenistic in the Waya. Danza Cavallo got saddled with post 12.
Danza Cavallo is coming off a fifth-place finish to Hard Not to Like in the Grade 1 Gamely Stakes at Santa Anita. Hard Not to Like came back to win the Grade 1 Diana here earlier in the meet.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The Whitney won’t be the only Grade 1 race in which owner Will S. Farish will have an interest Saturday at Saratoga. Farish has purchased the 3-year-old filly Irish Jasper, who puts her three-race winning streak on the line in the Grade 1, $500,000 Test Stakes at seven furlongs.
The Test drew a field of 10, including Take Charge Brandi, last year’s champion 2-year-old filly; Cavorting, the winner of the Jersey Girl Stakes last out; and Wonder Gal, the runner-up in the Grade 1 Mother Goose who was a late addition to the field. Irish Jasper drew the rail.
