String King is a gangster. Well, sort of.
The top-class Louisiana-bred turfer goes by “Floyd” around the barn in reference to a notorious bank robber.
“I used to call him pretty boy this and pretty boy that,” said Charlie Smith, who bred, owns, and trains String King. “He is pretty. But pretty boy didn’t quite fit his demeanor. He used to be so rank, so full of himself. He was a handful. Pretty Boy Floyd was a gangster back in the early ’30s or ’40s, so that’s how he got his nickname as Floyd.”
AUBURN, Wash. – Disruption, full of himself following his strong effort in the Mt. Rainier Handicap last Sunday, will make his next start in the Grade 3 Longacres Mile, a buoyant Monique Snowden said Friday. Snowden has never saddled a stakes winner at Emerald Downs, but her stable star has the look of a legitimate contender in the Pacific Northwest’s $200,000 showcase.
DEL MAR, Calif. – The single winning ticket in Thursday’s pick six at Del Mar was purchased ontrack for $1,296 and singled Bench Light ($18) in the eighth race. The pick six paid $278,798, with consolation tickets worth $5,034.
Track officials said the winning ticket had a structure 4x6x3x3x1x3, which resulted in 15 winning consolation tickets. There were three other tickets that had five winners.
Even though he is training for Frank Calabrese, one of the most influential horse owners in South Florida, Rasharn Creque is still flying under the radar – at least compared with all the attention his work as a trainer is getting back home in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Creque, who came to the United States in 2006, was hired in April and has saddled 24 winners from his first 64 starters for Calabrese, including a winner last weekend and another Thursday.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Graded stakes winners Vyjack and Dads Caps, both trained by Rudy Rodriguez, worked five furlongs together in 59.03 seconds Friday morning over the Saratoga main track.
Both are nominated to the Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt on Aug. 2.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – ACTT Naturally, a nonprofit facility whose mission is to help retired Thoroughbreds transition from racing to a second career, will hold a fundraiser at Oliva Vineyards in nearby Fort Edward, N.Y., on Tuesday.
The event, being held from 4 to 9 p.m., is called “If Wishes Were Horses.” Tickets are $35 in advance and $40 at the door. A silent auction featuring racing memorabilia and a chance to sample local wines, craft beer, and food will be part of the festivities.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Fortune Pearl, the winner of the Grade 2 Delaware Oaks in her last start, worked four furlongs in 48.13 seconds Friday over Saratoga’s main track in preparation for the Grade 1, $600,000 Alabama Stakes here Aug. 16.
Over a fast track following the renovation break, Fortune Pearl, working on the outside of the 3-year-old maiden filly Luna Time, went her first quarter in 23.73 seconds and came home in 24.40. Fortune Pearl galloped out five furlongs in 1:01.72 under jockey Trevor McCarthy.
Exercise rider Joe Duran, who was unseated from Dance With Fate during a training accident Thursday, faces a recovery of four to six months for fractured vertebrae and broken ribs, trainer Peter Eurton said Friday.
Duran was scheduled to undergo surgery on his back Friday, Eurton said.
A week after returning from a monthlong vacation, the star 3-year-old California Chrome began galloping at Los Alamitos on Friday in preparation for an expected comeback in September.
California Chrome will gallop on a daily basis for two or three weeks before he begins workouts, according to Alan Sherman, assistant trainer to his father, Art. Alan Sherman is overseeing the Los Alamitos stable while his father is based at Del Mar this summer.
Carlo Vaccarezza confirmed Little Alexis for the Grade 1 Test Stakes next weekend at Saratoga after the unbeaten filly breezed five furlongs Friday in a swift 58.80 seconds over her home track at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.
Vaccarezza said he intends to run Little Alexis in the name of another trainer in the Test, a seven-furlong race that will be on the Whitney Handicap undercard next Saturday. Vaccarezza, a restaurateur by profession who only began training his own horses last winter, has been refused a license in New York in the past.
