SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Sea Queen, the runner-up in the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks last month, was sent by plane Tuesday from Albany, N.Y., to Southern California, where she will run in Saturday’s Grade 1, $300,000 Del Mar Oaks. She also was nominated to Saturday’s Grade 2, $300,000 Lake Placid Stakes here.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Competitive Edge, the most impressive 2-year-old maiden winner of the Saratoga meet, worked four furlongs in 47.81 seconds Tuesday morning over Saratoga’s main track. It was his first breeze since he won his debut by 10 1/4 lengths here on July 26.
Competitive Edge is pointing to the Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes here on Sept. 1.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Rare is the racehorse whose running style switches from one extreme to the other.
Rarer still is one to make such a transformation at the Grade 1 level, but that’s exactly what has occurred with Somali Lemonade, a former come-from-behinder who is now a grinder – and a far greater success – on the front end.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Size has come a long way in a short period of time.
Unraced until March of this year, Size, a 3-year-old daughter of First Samurai, has won three of her first four starts, including the Grade 3 Iowa Oaks. Her connections will find out where Size fits in the 3-year-old filly division when she runs in the Grade 1, $600,000 Alabama Stakes at Saratoga on Saturday.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Luminance, the Bob Baffert-trained filly whose July 20 debut was among the most impressive wins of the summer by a 2-year-old of either gender, will not make the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante on Aug. 30.
Baffert said via text Tuesday that Luminance has sore shins, and that he has backed off her training.
A Tale of the Cat filly owned by Kaleem Shah, Luminance was an open secret in her debut during opening weekend of the Del Mar meet. Despite a slow start and a wide trip, Luminance ($3) rolled to a 2 1/2-length win in 57.39 seconds for five furlongs.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Jockey Stewart Elliott, new to this circuit this meet, got a rude welcoming gift Monday morning when he was kicked by a horse while walking through the stable area, resulting in a rib fracture that will sideline him two weeks, he said Tuesday.
“Luckily, I was wearing my safety vest,” he said. “Without it, I might have punctured a lung. It could have been worse.”
Elliott said he would recuperate at his home in the Philadelphia area.
“I haven’t seen my family since I’ve been out here,” he said.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Mike Smith has chosen to ride Shared Belief rather than Game On Dude in the Grade 1, $1 million Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Aug. 24. Shared Belief and Game On Dude, the defending race champion, both had serious, stamina-building seven-furlong workouts Tuesday as final preparations began for the meet’s richest and most-important race.
Smith had been riding both horses but in recent days informed both Jerry Hollendorfer, the trainer of Shared Belief, and Bob Baffert, the trainer of Game On Dude, that he would be siding with Shared Belief for the Pacific Classic.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Minutes after Game On Dude worked seven furlongs for the Pacific Classic, trainer Bob Baffert sent out Fed Biz for a six-furlong work, in company, that received an official time of 1:11.60.
“That was a good work. He needed that,” Baffert said.
Fed Biz won the San Diego Handicap at 1 1/16 miles here last month. Baffert is trying to decide whether to stretch him out to 1 1/4 miles for the Pacific Classic or turn him back to seven furlongs for the Forego on Aug. 30 at Saratoga. Both are Grade 1 races.
Trendi and Kiss My Hocks are elite 2-year-old Quarter Horses, but when they attempt to qualify for the $2.6 million All American Futurity during trials at Ruidoso Downs on Thursday and Friday, the task will not be easy. They are among 280 horses vying for just 10 spots in the finale Sept. 1 at the New Mexico track.
Gulfstream Park-based owner-trainer Carlo Vaccarezza said he intends to send Little Alexis to Parx Racing near Philadelphia for her next start in the $1 million Cotillion Stakes, a Grade 1 race Sept. 20 that is expected to draw divisional leader Untapable and other top fillies such as Sweet Reason and My Miss Sophia.
