“If he doesn’t win or run well, we’ll just retire him,” Jones said. “If he doesn’t want to do it, we’ll stop on him.”
CYPRESS, Calif. – The $500,000 Los Alamitos Derby on Saturday will determine whether Top Fortitude is a late-running sprinter or a factor in rich two-turn races this summer.
The Grade 2 Los Alamitos Derby is run over 1 1/8 miles and will be the longest race in Top Fortitude’s career.
EAST BOSTON, MASS. – Like father, like son.
Jorge L. Vargas Sr. was always known as a good gate rider and a strong finisher while notching many of his 3,093 career wins at Suffolk Downs. Apprentice Jorge L. Vargas Jr. just turned 20, and now he’s the one turning heads here.
“Everyone is happy with the way he’s riding, and we’re getting a lot of calls from just about every trainer here,” said Vargas the elder, who hung up his tack at the end of May to take his son’s book. “He’s good leaving the gate, and he’s a good finisher.”
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Hall of Fame trainer Sid Attard has had an accomplished career, winning more than 1,800 races and 84 stakes, but he’ll be searching for his first Queen’s Plate victory Sunday, when he starts Cap in Hand for the Tucci Stable.
Ruler On Ice, the 2011 Belmont Stakes winner, has been retired from racing, according to trainer Kelly Breen. As a gelding, Ruler On Ice will reside at the farm of his owners, George and Lori Hall, in Versailles, Ky.
Breen said Ruler On Ice retires sound, but that he and the Halls didn’t feel Ruler On Ice could be competitive at the graded-stakes level anymore. “He just didn’t have it,” Breen said.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Flashy Margaritta hasn’t done much wrong for trainer Ralph Biamonte, and the speedy gelding seeks his fourth stakes score Saturday at Woodbine in the $150,000 Achievement, a six-furlong dash for Ontario-bred 3-year-olds.
Flashy Margaritta prevailed in two Ontario-sired stakes in the fall, the Bull Page and Frost King. He tired to fourth after setting a rapid pace when returning from a winter layoff May 23, and then won the restricted Bold Ruckus Stakes in his turf debut June 14.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Wicked Strong, the Wood Memorial winner and fourth-place finisher in both the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes (in a dead heat with California Chrome), breezed a half-mile in 49.23 seconds Wednesday over the Belmont Park training track.
It was his first move since the Belmont, and he is being pointed to the Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga on July 26, according to trainer Jimmy Jerkens.
Barry Schwartz and his wife, Sheryl, may be sitting at the same table here Saturday, but they will have different rooting interests in the Grade 3, $200,000 Dwyer Stakes.
Barry Schwartz owns the undefeated New York-bred gelding Captain Serious, while Sheryl is part-owner of Kid Cruz. Those are the protagonists in the Dwyer, which drew a field of six 3-year-olds and will go as race 4.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Clearly Now recorded his most impressive victory of 2013 at Belmont Park when he won the Grade 3 Bold Ruler Handicap at seven furlongs. He returns to Belmont for Saturday’s Grade 3, $400,000 Belmont Sprint Championship, also at seven furlongs, which drew a field of nine.
The Belmont Sprint Championship was formerly named the James Marvin, and it retains its Grade 3 status. The James Marvin had been run on opening day at Saratoga.
