DEL MAR, Calif. – Attendance and handle declined in the first nine days of the Del Mar meeting, according to data released by the track Wednesday.
Through Sunday, average ontrack handle was down 18.6 percent to $2,151,339, while all-sources handle, including simulcasting and account-wagering sources, was down 5.7 percent to $12,536,249. Average attendance was down 12.5 percent to 17,580. The meeting opened July 16.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Fame and Power, the winner of the Sir Barton Stakes at Pimlico in May, starts Friday in an allowance race that could be a prep for the $100,000 El Cajon Stakes for 3-year-olds on Aug. 29.
Trained by Bob Baffert for Juddmonte Farms, Fame and Power was second as the 1-2 favorite after a slow start June 13 in the Grade 3 Matt Winn Stakes at Churchill Downs, his most recent start.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Warren’s Veneda could not lose in the winter, winning three consecutive stakes at Santa Anita. She could not win in the spring and early summer, losing three consecutive stakes.
On Saturday, Warren’s Veneda starts in her third Grade 1 race of the year in the $300,000 Clement Hirsch Stakes for fillies and mares at Del Mar. Trainer Craig Lewis is braced for a loss, though not because of Warren’s Veneda’s recent setbacks.
Lewis said Wednesday the presence of two-time champion Beholder makes the Hirsch a difficult assignment for Warren’s Veneda.
The lineup for Saturday’s Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga changed significantly at entry time Wednesday and figures to change yet again by post time.
Trainer Todd Pletcher did not enter Florida Derby winner Materiality because he was not pleased with how the horse trained Wednesday. Instead, Pletcher entered Competitive Edge in the $600,000 Jim Dandy but was expected to cross-enter him Thursday for Sunday’s Haskell Invitational, where he would run against Triple Crown winner American Pharoah.
Wise Dan, the 2012 and 2013 Horse of the Year, continues to train forwardly at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky.. Conditions permitting, the 8-year-old Wise Dan is on schedule to have his third workout this weekend as he continues his comeback from an injury sustained last October.
Trainer Charlie LoPresti has said he is considering several races as return spots for Wise Dan, including the Aug. 15 Fourstardave and Sept. 7 Bernard Baruch, both at Saratoga.
DEL MAR, Calif. – The first time trainer Bob Baffert ever went to Monmouth Park was in 1997. He’s become a regular over the years. Though he’s based here in the summers at Del Mar, Baffert has made the Haskell Invitational a priority, and he’s continued to have every reason to go back, for his record in the race is one of the most dominant of any trainer in any major race this era.
Ellis Park racing officials are expecting a well-matched field of fillies and mares for the western Kentucky track’s signature race, the one-mile Groupie Doll Stakes, to be run next Saturday, Aug. 8.
According to racing secretary Dan Bork, probable starters for the Grade 3, $100,000 race include Ambusher, Enchanting Lisa, Gamblers Rose, Pretty Fancy, Rathbaun, Willow Hills, and “hopefully a few more” from a nominations list of 29. Entries will be taken Sunday.
It’s not often a horse with a triple-digit Beyer Speed Figure in his most recent start shows up in an allowance race at Ellis Park, but that will be the case Friday when Runhappy makes the fourth start of his enigmatic career.
“We thought about a stakes for him and even nominated him to the Amsterdam at Saratoga,” said Maria Borell, who trains Runhappy for Jim McIngvale. “But he still does things a little green that he couldn’t afford if he ran in a big race like that. The timing is right at Ellis, and if he runs big again Friday, we’ll go in a stakes next time.”
Breaking Lucky, a 13-1 outsider trained by Reade Baker, outran the 3-5 favorite Shaman Ghost and Field of Courage to land the 80th running of the $500,000 Prince of Wales Stakes, the middle leg of the Canadian Triple Crown, at Fort Erie on Tuesday.
