ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – A. P.’s Glory made it two wins without a loss when she captured the $100,000 Mountaineer Juvenile Fillies by 1 1/2 lengths last weekend, but trainer Jim DiVito and owner-breeder Curtis Green have no particular next race picked out yet for the 2-year-old Mineshaft filly.
“I think she’s going to be better as she goes on,” DiVito said. “It’s still kind of up in the air where we’ll run.”
Alamo Heights is one of at least three horses from the Super Derby Prelude Stakes last Saturday at Louisiana Downs to target next month’s Grade 2, $400,000 Super Derby. Alamo Heights earned a fees-paid berth into the Sept. 6 race for his 1 1/4-length win over favored Ide Be Cool, another Super Derby candidate, along with the fourth-place finisher Gold Appointment.
The Super Derby, at 1 1/8 miles on the main track, is the richest race at Louisiana Downs, and it anchors a program of seven stakes worth $825,000.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Somali Lemonade, an 11-1 upset winner of the Grade 1 Diana Stakes on July 19 at Saratoga, will make her next start in the Grade 1 Beverly D. Stakes here on Aug. 16, trainer Michael Matz said Tuesday.
“I think we’re going to give it a whirl,” said Matz, who had been monitoring Somali Lemonade’s condition coming out of the Diana before committing her to the Beverly D.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Junior Alvarado had just ridden one of the fastest horses he’d ever been on to an allowance victory and had one more mount at Aqueduct before he was going to enjoy the Christmas holiday with his family.
Alvarado was in the gate aboard Miss Narcissist for the East View Stakes last Dec. 22 when that filly flipped in the gate, pinning Alvarado’s left ankle against metal. The result was a broken ankle and broken momentum.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Kathy Ritvo is back at Saratoga again this summer. Unlike the past two seasons, when she was here with the top handicap performer Mucho Macho Man, this time she’s in town with a couple of up-and-coming 3-year-old prospects, Fast Anna and the New York-bred Little Daddy.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin will have major contenders in two of this weekend’s stakes at Saratoga, sending out Sayaad in Saturday’s Grade 2, $500,000 Fourstardave and Cavorting in Sunday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Adirondack.
Sayaad returned from a nearly nine-month layoff to win the Forbidden Apple Stakes over yielding turf at Belmont on July 4, earning a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 103.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Jockey Brice Blanc, idle for the past week after being involved in an accident on the turf course, was out walking at Del Mar on Tuesday morning and said he was scheduled to visit a doctor on Wednesday in hopes of being cleared to ride.
“Hopefully I’ll be back by the weekend, or sometime next week,” Blanc said. “The first two days after the accident were pretty rough. I was really body sore. I’m feeling better now.”
Toro makes a visit
DEL MAR, Calif. - Trainer Bob Hess Jr. said he’s not going to get overly ambitious just yet with Blue Tone, who returned from a nine-month layoff with a sharp victory in a second-level allowance race on Sunday.
“We don’t want to get in any big hurry with him,” Hess said. “We’ll look for another allowance race or a restricted stakes, whether it’s in three weeks or eight weeks.”
Blue Tone, a 5-year-old gelding by Birdstone, was a powerful allowance winner last summer at Del Mar but had been off since October after suffering a hairline fracture to a hock.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Social Inclusion has been sent to Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Ky., for further evaluation, his new trainer, Chad Brown, said on Tuesday.
Owner Ron Sanchez transferred Social Inclusion from trainer Manny Azpurua to Brown several days after his seventh-place finish in the Grade 1 Haskell.
“Unfortunately this horse didn’t come out of the Haskell as well as we’d have liked,” said Brown. “So I sent the horse to Kentucky to Rood & Riddle on Monday to be examined by Dr. Larry Bramlage sometime next week.”
Gulfstream is hosting the $1.4 million Florida Sire Stakes for the first time this year, and the leadoff races in each division are set for Saturday, with the $100,000 Desert Vixen for fillies and the $100,000 Dr. Fager for colts and geldings.
Sing Praises, a 20-1 winner July 12 of the Birdonthewire Stakes, is among those expected for the Dr. Fager, along with Of Course and Fierce Tide.
