DEL MAR, Calif. – Fourth in the Pacific Classic in 2011 and second last year, Game On Dude will come into this year’s edition of the Grade 1, $1 million race on Aug. 25 riding a five-race win streak. But, most significantly, he appears to be handling Del Mar’s Polytrack surface much better than in years past.
Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico will put on two programs of trials for the Grade 1, $2.6 million All American Futurity on Thursday and Friday in a first for the 54-year-old race. A single marathon card had long determined the 10 finalists to the track’s Labor Day Classic.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – The 4-year-old gelding Grandeur was bred in Ireland and made his first nine starts in England, but all the while his trainer, Jeremy Noseda, harbored plans for a different kind of racing.
“I always had in my mind that this horse was ready-made to race in America,” Noseda said. “He loves turning tracks in Europe, and the ground – he’s one of those horses that the ground can’t be fast enough for him. He always just gave me the gut feeling that he’d like American racing.”
Tiz Miz Sue, who has not run since winning the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps at Belmont on Memorial Day, will skip the Grade 1 Personal Ensign at Saratoga on Aug. 25, trainer Steve Hobby said Tuesday.
DEL MAR, Calif. – At Del Mar, optional-claiming runners are not created equal. Horses with allowance conditions are preferred in said races, horses in for a tag go to the back of the line. Says it right there, in nicer, stiffer language, on page 38 of the condition book.
Trainer Wesley Ward is confident he will finally get the first Grade 1 win of his career when he sends out Judy the Beauty later this month in the Ballerina. But first, Ward will have an opportunity to pick up a Group 1 victory in Europe when he sends No Nay Never to Deauville in France for Sunday’s Prix Morny.
Gantry is back on the work tab at his Evangeline Downs Training Center base, and a fall return is possible for the Grade 2-winning sprinter, trainer Ron Faucheux said. Gantry has not raced since he finished second to Handsome Mike in the Grade 3 Commonwealth at Keeneland on April 13. Last year, he won the Grade 2 Smile Sprint Handicap at Calder Race Course.
Gantry breezed a half-mile in 52.06 seconds on Saturday. The move ranked 33rd of 42 at the distance. It was his third work back since July 20.
The 5-year-old mares Bryan's Jewel and Onepointhreekarats, who took turns beating each other in a pair of stakes earlier this season, square off for the third time since May in Thursday's $50,000 Unbridled Belle Stakes at Delaware Park.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – With King Kreesa having moved on to bigger and better things, the remainder of the New York-bred male turf division’s elite is set to meet Thursday in the $150,000 West Point Stakes at Saratoga.
Led by defending West Point winner Lubash, 10 New York-breds – not including four main-track-only entrants – were entered for the West Point, carded for 1 1/16 miles on the inner turf course.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Alan Goldberg won the most prestigious turf race for fillies and mares at Saratoga when Irish-bred Laughing captured the Grade 1 Diana Stakes on July 27.
