DEL MAR, Calif. – Beholder, who scored a dazzling victory against males in the Pacific Classic on Saturday, pulled up “better than I did,” trainer Richard Mandella said at his Del Mar barn on Sunday morning.
“That was very, very exciting,” Mandella said. “She came out of the race in great shape. We went to the Rancho Valencia after the race. I had a drink called the Bourbon Beast that I found very interesting.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Jess’s Dream, the first foal by 2009 Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra, makes his highly anticipated debut in Monday’s sixth race at Saratoga, a 1 1/8-mile maiden heat.
Jess’s Dream is by the stallion Curlin, a two-time Horse of the Year, and is owned and bred by Stonestreet Stables, which campaigned both parents.
Jess’s Dream arrived at Saratoga last summer but had several minor setbacks in his training. He had a foot issue and then had several bouts with what trainer Kiaran McLaughlin believes was pharyngitis.
Liam’s Map, who set blistering fractions only to get caught at the wire by Honor Code in the Grade 1 Whitney Stakes on Aug. 8, worked a comfortable five furlongs in 1:02.17 on Saturday over the Saratoga main track in preparation for the Grade 1 Woodward on Sept. 5.
Jockey Javier Castellano was aboard for the work, which was initially designed to be four furlongs, but trainer Todd Pletcher told his rider, “If he’s getting a little strong, I don’t mind him easing off at the five-eighths pole.”
Liam’s Map went his first quarter in 25.81 seconds.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Jorge Navarro made the long drive back to his Monmouth Park base on Saturday with a smile on his face after watching the star of his barn, Private Zone, sizzle a half-mile in 45.80 seconds over a swift Saratoga main track that morning in preparation for next Saturday’s Grade 1 Forego.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – As New York Racing Association officials Saturday morning were surveying the landscape at Barn 25 – where Triple Crown winner American Pharoah would be housed should he come for next Saturday’s Grade 1 Travers – seven of his 10 potential challengers were back in their stalls after putting in final workouts in preparation for the marquee race of the Saratoga meet.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Firing Line, second to American Pharoah in the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 2, underwent surgery this summer to have a bone chip removed from an ankle and is scheduled to return to trainer Simon Callaghan’s stable in October.
Callaghan said on Friday that Firing Line remains at a farm in Kentucky, where he has been based since early July. There is hope that Firing Line can return to racing in early 2016 and play a leading role in the older horse division in California.
Callaghan described the bone chip as a “flake.”
DEL MAR, Calif. – Normandy Invasion, seventh in the Grade 1 Whitney Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 8, has joined trainer Richard Mandella’s stable at Del Mar.
Owned by Fox Hill Farms, the 5-year-old Normandy Invasion was previously trained by Larry Jones. The horse has won 2 of 12 starts and earned $551,900. Normandy Invasion was fourth in the 2013 Kentucky Derby and is winless in three starts this year.
Mandella said Normandy Invasion will be pointed for the $300,000 Awesome Again Stakes at 1 1/8 miles at Santa Anita on Sept. 26.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The multiple Group 1 winner Flintshire, the runner-up in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita, is returning to the U.S. to compete in the $1 million Sword Dancer Invitational at Saratoga.
Flintshire, owned and bred by Juddmonte Farms and trained by Andre Fabre, is coming off a second-place finish to Treve in the Group 1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud in France in June. He also finished second to Treve in last year’s Arc de Triomphe before shipping to the U.S., where he ran second to Main Sequence in the BC Turf.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Sheer Drama boarded a van Friday at Gulfstream Park for the long ride to Saratoga, where she’ll be among the top contenders in next Saturday’s Grade 1 Personal Ensign.
Sheer Drama has been a model of consistency since joining trainer David Fawkes’s barn last summer, stepping up her game this season by finishing first or second in all six off her starts, including a victory in the Grade 1 Delaware Handicap on July 18.
DEL MAR, Calif. – After a strong July, all-sources handle at all California tracks showed a gain of 3 percent in the first seven months of the year compared with the same period in 2014, according to figures announced at Thursday’s California Horse Racing Board meeting by executive director Rick Baedeker.
In July, all-sources handle at all meetings rose 8 percent over 2014, figures that benefited from an additional day of racing for Thoroughbreds and an additional evening of racing for Quarter Horses. The overall handle in July was $255,997,838, compared with $237,057,512 in 2014.
