SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Sensing the competition in Sunday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Amsterdam Stakes could be a bit salty, trainer Randy Morse is likely to change course literally and figuratively with No Distinction, who is entered in Thursday’s $100,000 Quick Call Stakes for 3-year-olds going 5 1/2 furlongs on turf at Saratoga.
DEL MAR, Calif. – To this point in his career, No Silent has raced exclusively on turf. But the combination of having an intended start canceled at Betfair Hollywood Park, plus a recent sharp work on Polytrack here at Del Mar, convinced trainer Gary Mandella it was worth giving No Silent a shot on the main track in Thursday’s featured seventh race, a 6 1/2-furlong money allowance that carries an $85,000 purse.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Handle and attendance were down through the first four days of the Saratoga meet when compared to last year, according to figures compiled by Daily Racing Form .
Attendance through the first four days was 70,390, down 6.6 percent from last year’s figure of 75,369.
Ontrack handle totaled $11,317,016, down 11 percent compared to last year’s total of $12,731,605. All-sources handle on Saratoga was $60,799,199, down 4.5 percent from last year’s figure of $63,688,669.
RACE 2
5 Furlongs
Maiden Special Weight
Purse $80,000
Monzante, a Grade 1 winner who was euthanized Saturday after suffering an injury in a $4,000 claiming race at Evangeline Downs, was not put down on the track, as indicated by the chart of the race, but was euthanized after being sent back to the barn of his trainer after a state veterinarian had determined that the horse was “salvageable,” according to the Louisiana Racing Commission, which is investigating the incident.
Beginning Sept. 2, Indiana Downs will have an earlier first post time of 1:55 p.m. Eastern instead of the current first post time of 6 p.m. The weekly schedule of live racing Monday through Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday will remain the same.
The change will last through closing day, Oct. 19. Indiana Downs is experimenting to determine its optimal position in the national horse-racing market.
Requests for racing dates are due Nov. 1, and the experiment should help the track decide which times and days to request for 2014.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - After watching Suburban winner Flat Out work four furlongs in 49.61 seconds Monday morning at Saratoga, trainer Bill Mott said that he will “most likely” skip the Whitney Invitational on Aug. 3 and point to the Woodward on Aug. 31. Both races are Grade 1 events worth $750,000.
“He maybe wasn’t quite as sharp as he had been,” Mott said of Flat Out’s work. “He was going okay, but before he would take you there.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - With four double-digit-priced winners in the sequence Monday at Saratoga, nobody hit the pick six, creating a two-day carryover of $245,278 into Wednesday’s card.
[SARATOGA 2013: Complete meet coverage, exclusive DRF videos]
There was a $57,533 carryover into Monday’s program after the wager was not hit on Sunday.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - There is something about Saratoga that brings about the best in Bigger Is Bettor.
For the second time in two years, Bigger Is Bettor pulled off an upset in a stakes at Saratoga, this time rallying along the inside under Joe Rocco Jr. to win Monday's $100,000 Evan Shipman Stakes by a head over Awesome Vision in a four-horse blanket finish. It was a neck back to Readthebyline, who was third by a neck over Groomedforvictory.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer Charlie LoPresti’s reigning Horse of the Year, Wise Dan, escaped a potentially disastrous situation after stumbling and nearly unseating exercise rider Damien Rock shortly past the finish line during a routine gallop here Monday.
