SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – While Charlie LoPresti is delaying Wise Dan’s return to the races, he is moving forward with his 5-year-old gelding Villandry, hoping to turn him into a stakes winner in Saturday’s $100,000 Lure Stakes at Saratoga.
The Lure, at 1 1/16 miles, is the last of 11 races on the card and one of five stakes on the program.
The Downs at Albuquerque will open one of its most significant meets in years Saturday. Purses have more than doubled since last season, the stakes schedule has been expanded, and there are a host of new stables on hand for the 54-date mixed meet for Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses that continues through Oct. 26.
Albuquerque has been able to put more money into its racing program due to a new casino built last year. In the past, the track’s slot machines had been housed within the grandstand. The new facilities have a patio outside overlooking the first turn of the track.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Two-time reigning Horse of the Year Wise Dan, who has won the Grade 2 Fourstardave Handicap at Saratoga the last two summers, will not seek a three-peat in that race, trainer Charlie LoPresti said Thursday.
LoPresti said he feels he has been pushing Wise Dan more than he should to make the $500,000 Fourstardave on Aug. 9, especially considering that the 7-year-old gelding is coming off colic surgery in mid-May. Wise Dan had a mediocre workout July 25 over the Oklahoma turf course.
The Oaklawn Park stakes program for 3-year-olds that this year played host to Bayern and Ride On Curlin will be even stronger for 2015.
The Hot Springs, Ark., track has boosted the purse for the Grade 2 Rebel to $750,000, a $150,000 bump that makes the race the second-richest offering of the meet behind the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby. Oaklawn announced the increase Thursday, when it released its 31-race stakes schedule, which is worth a record $6.6 million.
Oaklawn will open Jan. 9, with the 2015 season to run through April 11.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Turf racing resumed at Del Mar without incident on Wednesday after three horses were euthanized from injuries suffered in turf races last Friday and Saturday.
From Saturday night into Monday, the course was aerated and watered extensively to make it softer. Turf races scheduled for Sunday were canceled. Del Mar widened the turf course before the meet began.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Samantha Nicole, a full sister to 2009 Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra, makes her second career start in Friday’s third race at Saratoga, a maiden event at 1 1/8 miles.
Samantha Nicole, a 3-year-old, debuted in February at Fair Grounds where she finished second as the 1-2 favorite in a race run at a mile and 70 yards. Trained by Steve Asmussen then, she has since been transferred to trainer Kiaran McLaughlin, who got the filly in May.
“She’s trained very well, nice mover, we’re excited to get her started,” McLaughlin said.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Justin Nixon said Wednesday that Prince of Wales Stakes winner Coltimus Prime is unlikely to start in the final leg of the Canadian Triple Crown, the $500,000 Breeders’ Stakes on grass at Woodbine on Aug. 17.
“I think we’re going to pass, just because the colt ran very well on the dirt,” Nixon said. “He’s also won on Poly, and I just don’t know if we want to venture into unchartered waters on turf. He’s never run on turf before, although he has breezed on it. I think we’re going to stick with what’s been to his liking.”
One of the top-ranked 2-year-old Quarter Horses in the nation will make an appearance Saturday at Ruidoso Downs in the $64,620 John Deere New Mexico Juvenile Challenge Futurity. Lovethewayyoulie will vie for favoritism in the 350-yard race following her May 31 win in the Grade 1, $1 million Heritage Place Futurity at Remington Park.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Zivo, the upset winner of the Grade 2 Suburban last out, was kept out of Saturday’s Grade 1 Whitney and will point to the Grade 1 Woodward on Aug. 30, trainer Chad Brown said.
The major goal for Zivo this fall is the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont on Sept. 27.
“After speaking to the owner, Thomas Coleman, we just decided he’d rather focus on the Jockey Club, and we felt the Woodward would be a better prep for that,” Brown said. “It’s a little closer and sets him up for that race where we know he loves Belmont at a mile and a quarter.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Chad Brown will bring back Grade 1 winners Big Blue Kitten and Dayatthespa in overnight stakes on Saturday’s card.
Big Blue Kitten, who won two Grade 1 races, including the Sword Dancer at 1 1/2 miles, here last year, will run in the $100,000 Lure Stakes at 1 1/16 miles. It will be his first start since he finished eighth in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Turf. Brown had considered bringing him back in the Grade 1 Sword Dancer here Aug. 17.
