SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Joel Rosario, the leading jockey in the country in both wins and purse money won, will miss six weeks, including important rides this weekend in the Travers and Pacific Classic, due to a broken left foot suffered in a spill at Saratoga on Friday.
Trainer Shug McGaughey confirmed Jose Lezcano would replace Rosario on Orb for Saturday’s $1 million Travers Stakes.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Topic, the only 3-year-old in a field of nine fillies and mares, closed from last to win the first stakes of her career in Friday’s $95,700 California Thoroughbred Trainers and Thoroughbred Owners of California Handicap at Del Mar.
Ridden by Garrett Gomez, Topic ($6.40) rallied six wide on the turn and took the lead near the eighth pole, drawing off to win by 3 1/4 lengths. Topic ran 1 3/8 miles on turf in 2:12.85.
DEL MAR, Calif. – The broken foot bone suffered by jockey Joel Rosario at Saratoga on Friday jeopardizes not only his mounts Saturday at Saratoga, including Orb in the Travers Stakes, but a full slate of races Sunday at Del Mar, including Game On Dude in the Pacific Classic and Goldencents in the Pat O'Brien.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Jockey Joel Rosario, scheduled to ride Kentucky Derby winner Orb in Saturday’s $1 million Travers Stakes at Saratoga and leading handicap horse Game On Dude in Sunday’s $1 million Pacific Classic at Del Mar, suffered a broken bone in his left foot on Friday in a spill at Saratoga, and his status to ride this weekend was uncertain.
Rosario was scheduled to meet with a orthopedist, Dr. Rick Alfred, a New York Giants team physician, on Saturday morning to determine his status.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Dance to Bristol had taken the lead straightening for home in Friday’s $500,000 Ballerina Handicap at Saratoga, but the presence of the Grade 1 winner Book Review loomed large to her outside.
Inside, trainer Ollie Figgins III thought to himself, “We’re going to see what kind of heart my horse had.”
Dance to Bristol had enough heart to hold off Book Review by a head and win her first Grade 1 race and earn an automatic, fees-paid berth into the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Santa Anita on Nov. 1.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Java's War, winner of the Blue Grass Stakes who was at one time under consideration for the Travers, will make his next start in the Grade 1, $1 million Pennsylvania Derby at Parx on Sept 21, trainer Barclay Tagg said.
Tagg recently took over the training of Java's War when owner Charles Fipke moved him from Ken McPeek's barn.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Atigun, beaten favorite in the Grade 2 Colonial Turf Cup, and Sky Blazer, runner-up in a recent allowance race, top a seven-horse field entered in the $100,000 Idle Rich Stakes at 1 3/16 miles.
Atigun, trained by Ken McPeek, had "a horrible trip," McPeek said, when he was beaten six lengths in the Colonial Turf Cup. He gets a rider switch from Julien Leparoux to Junior Alvarado.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - The New York Racing Association has reinstated the Mike Venezia Award, and jockey Ramon Dominguez will be presented with it Sunday following the fourth race.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - About 90 minutes before his winning ride in the first race aboard Havana on Friday, John Velazquez was part of a ceremony held by the New York Racing Association to honor the three winningest riders at Saratoga.
NYRA unveiled a bronze plaque with the likenesses of Velazquez, Jerry Bailey, and Angel Cordero and their accomplishments at Saratoga. The three riders were also given red blazers.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer Todd Pletcher unleashed another good-looking 2-year-old Friday when Havana won a 5 1/2-furlong maiden race by 2 3/4 lengths. His final time of 1:02.64 was just .13 of a second off the track record set by Factus Cactus in 2010.
"It didn't surprise us that he broke alertly and showed speed, and I was happy to see him put in the performance that he did," said Pletcher, who trains Havana for Michael Tabor, John Magnier, and Derrick Smith.
