GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – As the Lone Star Park meet was coming to a close last year, there was a hopeful feeling that historical racing might be approved to help sagging purses in Texas. And by the fall, rules providing for the electronic pari-mutuel game were adopted by the Texas Racing Commission.
Frosted, the Wood Memorial winner and Belmont Stakes runner-up, worked five furlongs in 1:01.90 on Friday over Saratoga’s main track in preparation for the Grade 2, $600,000 Jim Dandy on Aug. 1.
Daily Racing Form’s Mike Welsch timed Frosted’s opening three furlongs in 36.03 seconds and his final quarter in 25.87. He galloped out six furlongs in 1:16.16.
Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin, who was at Belmont, said Frosted worked by himself after having a fast move in company last weekend.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Janet Reid, who has worked in the horse identification office for nearly 34 years, will be leaving the New York Racing Association when the Belmont meet ends Sunday.
Reid, 58, has been the chief horse identifier since January 2007. Carol Dolan will take over that role beginning with the Saratoga meet.
The house Reid shares with her husband, Pat, went up in flames in March, and they are in the process of having the home rebuilt.
“I felt it important that I stay to oversee the construction,” said Reid, who opted to retire now rather than go to Saratoga.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Tonalist, the runner-up in two graded stakes in his last two starts, worked six furlongs in 1:13.04 over the Belmont main track Friday in preparation for the Grade 1, $1.25 million Whitney Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 8.
With regular rider John Velazquez in the irons, Tonalist worked in company with the maiden Arbitrator, starting a couple of lengths behind and finishing in front. Belmont clockers caught him in fractions of 24.20 seconds for the quarter and 47.75 for the half-mile. The move was completed a furlong past the wire.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Todd Pletcher said Friday that despite the imposing presence of Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, he has the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational under consideration for Competitive Edge, who suffered his first defeat in five career starts when finishing sixth as the odds-on favorite in the Grade 2 Woody Stephens on Belmont Stakes Day.
“We’ve made no firm decision at this point,” said Pletcher. “He’ll breeze again this weekend. He’s definitely under consideration for the Haskell.”
DEL MAR, Calif. – Albeit, C.C. Zipp, and Pretty N Cool will have their first starts in what could be a memorable maiden race for 2-year-old fillies at five furlongs in Sunday’s sixth race at Del Mar.
All three fillies have left their trainers impressed by recent workouts and hopeful that a start Sunday will lead to races such as the $200,000 Sorrento Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs on Aug. 12 or the $300,000 Del Mar Debutante on Sept. 5.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Kung Fu Mambo, who ended a layoff of more than 2 1/2 years with a win in an optional claimer at Santa Anita last month, will have his American stakes debut in the $200,000 San Diego Handicap at 1 1/16 miles on July 25.
He will be part of a group of older horses using the San Diego as a prep for the $1 million Pacific Classic on Aug. 22.
Other candidates for the San Diego are Appealing Tale, Bayern, Catch a Flight, Hoppertunity, and Sahara Sky, who has been running in sprints but will start at a longer distance.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Soul Driver enabled trainer Jeff Mullins to win the $116,000 Oceanside Stakes for the first time on Thursday’s opening day of the Del Mar summer meeting.
There is a bigger prize awaiting Soul Driver later this summer, the $250,000 Del Mar Derby on Sept. 6, a race in which Mullins has an accomplished recent history. He won a division of the Del Mar Derby in 2013 with Gabriel Charles and was second with Battle of Hastings in 2009.
DEL MAR, Calif. – It was the sort of phone call a trainer hates to make and an owner dreads to receive.
Last October, Mike Stidham called his client, Ike Thrash, in Hattiesburg, Miss., to convey the news that the stakes winner Her Emmynency had been sent to a Southern California equine clinic because of a bout with colitis.
“We have to keep our fingers crossed,” Stidham told Thrash. “It can go south in a couple of days.”
One bettor hit the 20-cent Rainbow 6 jackpot at Gulfstream Park on Thursday, earning a payoff of $164,483.
The wager, comprising races 4-9, had gone unsolved for seven consecutive racing programs. The Rainbow 6 carryover jackpot is paid out only when there is a single ticket sold with all six winners.
