Scott Blasi returned to work for trainer Steve Asmussen at Saratoga on Tuesday, four months after the longtime assistant was fired for inappropriate behavior detailed in a video released by the activist group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
“It’s great to be back doing what I love,” Blasi said.
“He makes us better,” Asmussen said. “I’m better with him. He’s done a lot of good for us in 18 years.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – After Mother Nature put a damper on the final two days of the second week, Saratoga’s all-sources handle is down 9.1 percent through the first 10 days of the meet compared with the same period last year. However, ontrack handle is basically neck-and-neck with last year, while attendance is up 4.2 percent.
The meeting began July 18 and runs through Sept. 1.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Story to Tell has romped around Del Mar with such ease in recent mornings that trainer Dan Hendricks is confident going into Sunday’s $200,000 Best Pal Stakes. Story to Tell won the W.L. Proctor Stakes at Los Alamitos on July 13, and Hendricks wants to try for another stakes win before the division swells with recent maiden-race winners.
“We’ll get it before the others catch up,” Hendricks said. “There will be new ones coming out of the woodwork every week.”
Perhaps it is the owners and trainers of other 2-year-olds who should fear Story to Tell.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Rick Violette said Tuesday that surgery to repair small stress fractures in Samraat’s right cannon bone went well, and that he expects the multiple Grade 3 winner to be back in his barn at Saratoga within the next 48 hours. Samraat was injured while preparing for last Saturday’s Grade 2 Jim Dandy.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – After postponing his work one day due to track conditions, trainer D. Wayne Lukas finally was able to send 2013 Travers winner Will Take Charge out to work three furlongs over a wet and sealed Oklahoma training track Tuesday in his final major prep for Saturday’s Grade 1 Whitney.
Jockey Ramsey Zimmerman will head into the four-day race week at Gulfstream Park with plenty of momentum after winning nine races last week at the south Florida track.
Zimmerman trails only Edgard Zayas in the Gulfstream jockeys’ standings after his latest spree, which furthers an inspiring comeback effort for the 32-year-old jockey. He swept the first three races Sunday after winning three Saturday.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Chad Brown said Tuesday that Social Inclusion will join his stable at Saratoga on Wednesday. The seventh-place finisher in Sunday’s Grade 1 Haskell, Social Inclusion is owned by Rontos Racing Stable and has been based at Gulfstream Park throughout his 3-year-old campaign with Manny Azpurua.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Toast of New York, best known for winning the United Arab Emirates Derby, is scheduled to fly to California and take on elders in Del Mar’s biggest race, the Grade 1, $1 million Pacific Classic on Aug. 24, according to Cindy Niemitz, a California-based representative for the International Racing Bureau.
The UAE Derby was run on the synthetic Tapeta surface. Del Mar has a synthetic Polytrack surface.
Toast of New York most recently was fourth in the Belmont Derby on turf July 5, after which he returned to Britain with trainer Jamie Osborne.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Trainer Mark Casse has yet to win a race at this meet, but his runners have been firing. He finished second with four of his first six starters and had another second-place finish in a maiden race Sunday.
On Wednesday, he looks to get his first local win with first-time starter Bollente, who is entered in the sixth race, scheduled for one mile on turf.
Bollente, a son of More Than Ready, was purchased at auction by Casse on behalf of owner John Oxley for $550,000 in April in Ocala, Fla. He drew post 10.
EAST BOSTON, Mass. – A tornado ripped through the city of Revere, where the stable area of Suffolk Downs is located, on Monday morning, but no humans at the track or horses suffered any injuries and there was no damage to any structures. The afternoon card went on as scheduled.
The tornado, which was confirmed by the National Weather Service, ravaged the city, resulting in multiple building collapses, power outages, downed power lines, uprooted trees, and widespread damage. Major highways were closed following the storm, and police re-routed vehicles through Suffolk Downs.
