With 10 wins from 33 starters, trainer Peter Eurton is in the midst of his best Del Mar summer meeting, a level of success that was unexpected.
“No. Not at all,” he said on Wednesday. “No way.”
Through Wednesday, Eurton, 66, was tied for third in the standings with Peter Miller, trailing leader Phil D’Amato (15) and Bob Baffert (12). Eurton had won with 30.3 percent of his starters, second only to Baffert’s 33 percent from 36 starters among the 10 leading trainers.
Trainer Nevada Litfin has been handed a summary suspension by the Canterbury Park board of stewards for conduct detrimental to racing, according to a ruling posted by the Minnesota Racing Commission on Wednesday.
Litfin was cited for an Aug. 16 incident. During the suspension of his license, he is denied access to Minnesota tracks, pending a hearing.
The ruling reads that Litfin “was observed by commission security engaging in acts detrimental to the integrity of racing.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The presence of Arcangelo in Saturday’s 154th Travers Stakes at Saratoga elicits memories of his sire, Arrogate, and what he did in this same race seven years ago.
An unknown quantity to many before that day, Arrogate announced himself to the world as a rare talent with a record-setting, 13 1/2-length victory in Saratoga’s marquee event. He ran 1 1/4 miles in 1:59.36, the fastest time at that distance at this historic venue which began racing in 1863.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- When Forte ran in the Belmont Stakes off a 10-week layoff, it was hardly by design. The 2-year-old champion of 2022 was forced to miss the Kentucky Derby and Preakness due to a bruised foot, meaning the Belmont was his first start since the April 1 Florida Derby. He finished a game second.
When Belmont Stakes winner Arcangelo runs in Saturday’s Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers Stakes at Saratoga -- meeting Forte, Kentucky Derby Mage, Preakness winner National Treasure and three others -- he will do so off an 11-week layoff.
Dean Delivers is getting a little breather while his connections start to think about what race might serve as his bridge to a potential start in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Santa Anita.
The Florida-bred last raced July 29 and finished third behind champion Elite Power and Gunite in the Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt at Saratoga. Dean Delivers has since returned home to Florida.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The top four or five finishers from Sunday’s King’s Plate at Woodbine could all contest the second leg of the Canadian Triple Crown, the $400,000 Prince of Wales Stakes on the dirt at Fort Erie on Tuesday, Sept. 12.
Trainer Mark Casse could run the top two finishers in the $1 million Plate, Paramount Prince and Elysian Field, along with stakes-placed Stayhonor Goodside, who bypassed the Plate, a 1 1/4-mile Tapeta stakes.
“I’m looking at running the three of them,” said Casse, who has won the Prince of Wales four times.
Ellis Park in Henderson, Ky., has moved the entirety of its Friday card to Monday due to the heat wave throttling the Midwest, the track announced Tuesday, a decision that also will shift all of its meet-ending mandatory payouts to the new card.
The Friday card, which was already drawn, includes nine races. First post will be 11:45 a.m. Central on Monday.
The heat wave that continues to grip the Southwest will dictate the schedule for the undefeated 2-year-old Strong Promise, who won the second stakes race of his career in the $75,000 Louisiana Cup Juvenile at Louisiana Downs.
Strong Promise was a 2 1/2-length winner of the sprint for Louisiana-breds on Aug. 5. For the effort, he earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 73. The son of Broken Vow races for Norman Stables and is a half-brother to multiple stakes-winning sprinter Midnight Fantasy.
Horseshoe Indianapolis in Shelbyville, Ind., has moved the post time for its first race on Wednesday to late morning and will shift its Thursday race card to Monday due to predictions of excessive heat in the Midwest later this week.
The first post on Wednesday will now be 10 a.m. Eastern, instead of 2:30 p.m., “to avoid the hottest parts of the day,” Horseshoe said in a press release. The Tuesday card is currently scheduled to go off as planned, with a first post of 2:30 p.m.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – To hear Luis Saez tell it, he was supposed to be on the lead when he rode Mage in the Grade 1 Florida Derby five months ago.
Instead, Mage broke slow and was last going into the first turn. That he ran so well – finishing second, beaten just one length by Forte – may have been the best thing to happen to Mage.
Five weeks later, Mage, with Javier Castellano aboard, rallied from 15th place to win the Kentucky Derby.
