SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Todd Pletcher will go for a third straight sweep of the Grade 1 route races for 3-year-old fillies at Saratoga when he sends out Curalina as the probable favorite in Saturday’s Grade 1, $600,000 Alabama Stakes at Saratoga.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Having raced only twice this year and having come out of his hard effort in the Grade 1 Whitney Stakes in good shape, Liam’s Map will be pointed to the Grade 1, $600,000 Woodward Stakes here Sept. 5, trainer Todd Pletcher said Wednesday.
Trainer Ronny Werner has made a circuit change this year, moving from Kentucky to Gulfstream Park, and he has been embracing his time in south Florida.
“I got the tan going,” he joked.
Werner has a 20-horse stable at the Gulfstream meet. It’s his first time setting up a base in south Florida since 2005. Werner said that winter he brought 50 horses to the Palm Meadows Training Center.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Owner Michael House had a perfect first week at Del Mar this summer. Gabriel Charles won the $400,000 Eddie Read Stakes on July 18, and Big John B won the $100,000 Cougar II Handicap on July 24.
The start of August was not as kind.
On Aug. 8, Gabriel Charles was rushed to a local vet clinic due to a bout of colic that required surgery. The operation occurred a week before a scheduled trip to the Arlington Million in Chicago.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Melatonin was purchased privately after a maiden win in February 2014 and didn’t return to the races until last Saturday, when he scored a 30-1 surprise in an allowance race at Del Mar. It was a long road back for him, not just in terms of the 18-month layoff but what he had to overcome just to get back to the races.
Melatonin, according to trainer David Hofmans, was stricken by EPM – Equine Protozoal Myeloencephalitis – which attacks a horse’s central nervous system and often leads to uncoordinated movement, among other clinical signs.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Trainer Simon Callaghan was delighted that Taris returned from a lengthy layoff to win the Grade 3 Rancho Bernardo Handicap on Sunday, and now he will focus on the main year-end goal, the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Keeneland, where Taris scored the most impressive victory of her career last year in the Grade 2 Raven Run.
Taris was injured in the Grade 1 La Brea at Santa Anita on Dec. 26, required surgery, and had a mere six workouts coming into the Rancho Bernardo.
Runhappy, the 3-year-old Super Saver colt with a 3-for-4 record and a sizable following, took another step toward the King’s Bishop Stakes when drilling six furlongs Tuesday in 1:12.40 at the Thoroughbred Center training facility in Lexington, Ky.
Runhappy will be ridden by Edgar Prado in the Grade 1 King’s Bishop on the Aug. 29 Travers Stakes undercard at Saratoga. The colt was an easy winner of a July 31 allowance at Ellis Park in his most recent start for owner Jim “Mattress Mac” McIngvale and trainer Maria Borell.
It’s a story with tragic overtones and one that was too frighteningly familiar.
Sebastian Saez was thrown from his mount in the seventh race Sunday at Ellis Park and lay motionless for a couple of minutes. The incident threw a massive scare into Julio Espinoza, who only last October endured the nightmare of seeing Saez’s older brother, Juan, suffer fatal injuries in a spill at Indiana Grand.
“I didn’t even want to think about it,” said Espinoza, the agent and father figure to both brothers. “Just don’t want to go there.”
Wise Dan was sent through what Charlie LoPresti called a “very strong” workout Monday at Keeneland as the two-time Horse of the Year continues to build fitness and momentum toward his much-awaited return to racing.
LoPresti has said Wise Dan most likely will return to action in the $1 million Woodbine Mile on Sept. 13, although he has not ruled out the $250,000 Bernard Baruch on closing day, Sept. 7, of the Saratoga meet. The Oct. 31 Breeders’ Cup Mile at Keeneland is the ultimate goal.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Appealing Tale nearly pulled off an upset in the San Diego, but he’s a sprinter at heart, and it is sprinting to which he will return on Saturday in the Grade 2, $250,000 Pat O’Brien at seven furlongs, a race for which he tuned up with an easy three-furlong drill in 37.80 seconds Tuesday morning.
Appealing Tale lost the San Diego by a head to Catch a Flight after battling for the early lead with Bayern.
“Heartbreaking. That was tough,” trainer Peter Miller said Tuesday.
