SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – After watching Mindframe stick his head in front of Dornoch in early stretch, one couldn’t blame trainer Todd Pletcher, owner Mike Repole, and jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. for thinking they were on their way to winning Saturday’s historic, first-ever Belmont Stakes at Saratoga Race Course. Unfortunately, the two intangibles they feared the most coming into the race – his inexperience and the added distance – likely wound up proving the difference between what would have been a memorable victory and a most frustrating defeat.
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DRF Past Performances
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Making Thorpedo Anna’s victory in Friday’s Grade 1 Acorn Stakes at Saratoga more impressive than the 5 1/2-length margin over Leslie’s Rose was the fact she did it on three shoes.
Trainer Kenny McPeek said Saturday that Thorpedo Anna lost her right front shoe in the Acorn, something he believes happened at the break.
McPeek said Thorpedo Anna’s foot was “a little tender” but otherwise she was fine. McPeek said the foot was packed in poultice Friday night.
“The blacksmith’s already addressed it,” McPeek said.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - The yet-to-be-named full brother to Fierceness is close to making his debut.
On Friday, at Saratoga, the 2-year-old colt by City of Light out of the mare Nonna Bella worked a sharp half-mile in 48 seconds out of the gate, according to Daily Racing Form. It was his second straight work out of the gate.
“He’s come in, trained well, very straight forward much like his brother,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. “Last week’s work from the gate was good and today’s was an improvement.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - While trainer Graham Motion mulls a possible trip to Australia in November for the Melbourne Cup for The Grey Wizard, he has no immediate plans for the Grade 2 Belmont Gold Cup winner.
The Grey Wizard got up in the final stride to win the two-mile Belmont Gold Cup by a head over Champagne Juan. The victory earned The Grey Wizard an automatic spot in the Melbourne Cup, also run at two miles.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer George Weaver made the relatively short walk from his Saratoga barn to the Oklahoma training track Friday morning. While it’s one he’s made countless times before, on this morning it had a bit of a different feel.
“I want to get back to business,” Weaver said. “It was an incredible amount of stress worrying about your whole livelihood being taken away from you.”
Trainer Victor Barboza Jr. has a trio of female runners who have stakes options from Gulfstream to Woodbine to Monmouth Park.
Beth’s Dream, a stakes winner coming off a victory in an overnight handicap in April at Gulfstream, has a long-range goal of the track’s Grade 3, $220,000 Princess Rooney on Sept. 21, Barboza said.
Great Venezuela is under serious consideration for the Grade 3, $135,000 Hendrie at Woodbine, according to Barboza. The 6 1/2-furlong race for fillies and mares is July 6.
Bentornato, who won the first four starts of his career last year at Gulfstream Park, is gearing up for a return to racing after his February journey to Saudi Arabia.
He was freshened after finishing third in the Grade 3 Saudi Derby. Forever Young, winner of the Saudi Derby, returned to run third by a head in the Kentucky Derby.
“Bentornato, he’s doing very well,” trainer Jose D’Angelo said. “He ran big to me. We gave him time, he recovered good after the race, and now we’re just waiting for him.
Twirling Queen, who has won her last three starts, is being pointed to the $150,000 Coronation Cup at Saratoga, according to her trainer, Jose D’Angelo.
The 5 1/2-furlong turf sprint for 3-year-old fillies is July 12.
Twirling Queen won at the distance in her last start, when making her turf debut in the Mamzelle Stakes on May 11 at Churchill Downs.
Prior to that race, she won the off-the-turf Melody of Colors at five furlongs and an allowance, both over Tapeta at Gulfstream Park.
A freshened Grand Mo the First could be bound for the Grade 3, $200,000 Dwyer at the Belmont at Aqueduct meet next month if trainer Victor Barboza Jr. likes what he sees from the horse in his works over the next several weeks.
The one-mile race for 3-year-olds is July 6.
Grand Mo the First last raced in the Kentucky Derby, finishing 18th after running third in a pair of preps, the Tampa Bay Derby and Florida Derby.
“He came back to my barn three weeks ago,” Barboza said. “I think he’ll be ready for a race in July. I think the Dwyer is possible.”
ALBANY, Calif. – Since the early 1990s, well before he attended kindergarten, Dr. Luis Soto would make frequent trips to racetracks in the Bay Area with his father.
“I think the first time I went to the racetrack, I was 3,” Soto said on a recent Saturday.
The Sotos often visited Bay Meadows, in San Mateo, not far from their home. When Bay Meadows closed in 2008, the Sotos stayed with the sport, making excursions across the bridge to Golden Gate Fields, closer to Oakland. A table in the clubhouse on Breeders’ Cup Saturday was an annual event.