SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – After having a scheduled Tuesday workout at Belmont Park canceled due to a wet track, Mentor Cane shipped to Saratoga later that day and on Wednesday worked a sharp half-mile in 47.32 seconds over the Oklahoma training track.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Currency Swap will launch yet another comeback when he takes on five rivals in Friday’s opener, a $90,000 optional-claiming dash carded at six furlongs.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – So Many Ways and Kauai Katie combined to win all three graded stakes for juvenile fillies run here last summer, yet they never met.
On Saturday, when both return to Saratoga in the Grade 1, $300,000 Prioress, they figure to be the top two choices in the six-furlong race for 3-year-old fillies that drew a field of seven.
AUBURN, Wash. – He’s Not Bluffin headlines an evenly matched field of eight 3-year-olds Friday in the featured sixth race at Emerald Downs. First post for the seven-race program is 6:45 p.m. Pacific.
After chasing stakes runners in his past two starts, He’s Not Bluffin is a candidate to profit from class relief Friday while facing $20,000 claimers over 6 1/2 furlongs. Trained by Jim Penney for owners Ron and Rosalie Warren, He’s Not Bluffin made short work of $30,000 maiden claimers May 11 in his only previous start for a claiming tag.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – His victory in the Belmont Stakes came at the end of a long, and sometimes maddening, Triple Crown trail for Palace Malice. But his connections hope it is just the beginning of what he will accomplish in his career.
Jockey Patrick Valenzuela is preparing for another comeback.
Wednesday at Del Mar, Valenzuela resumed working horses for the first time since November, having recently received doctor’s clearance following knee surgery earlier this year. Valenzuela said he hopes to return to riding as early as Aug. 3.
Valenzuela said he underwent treatment with Dr. James Tibone, who frequently works with jockeys in Southern California.
Jeranimo, winner of the Grade 1 Eddie Read Stakes on turf last Saturday, will attempt to win his second Grade 1 race of the meeting in the Pacific Classic, trainer Mike Pender said Wednesday.
There had been discussions about sending Jeranimo to Arlington Park for the Arlington Million on Aug. 17, but Pender said the Pacific Classic has more appeal.
“I don’t want to ship,” Pender said. “He likes to run out of his own stall.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – When Transparent won a first-level allowance race by 10 3/4 lengths at Aqueduct on April 4, there was no doubt that he was headed for a stakes race in his next start.
It’s taken 113 days to get there, but after dealing with some minor issues, Transparent gets his stakes opportunity in Friday’s $100,000 Curlin Stakes, the featured event on a 10-race card at Saratoga.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – It is understandable why Chad Brown may have a soft spot in his heart for the Diana Stakes after posting the first Grade 1 win of his training career in the filly-and-mare turf fixture two summers ago with Zagora.
DEL MAR, Calif. – As sharp as Clubhouse Ride was in winning the Grade 2 Californian Stakes at Betfair Hollywood Park on June 1, he was a disappointment when fourth in the $500,000 Hollywood Gold Cup on July 6.
“It wasn’t his day,” trainer Craig Lewis said Wednesday.
