SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Due in large part to the heat, business for Friday’s opening-day card at Saratoga was down from 2012.
With temperatures in the mid-90s and a heat index near 100, the on-track attendance was 21,935, down 15 percent from last year’s figure of 25,676.
On-track handle was $3,338,203, down 18 percent from last year’s total of $4,075,817. All-sources handle was $15,591,240, down 7 percent from last year’s total of $16,690,234.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Reaching for the wire in the steamy Saratoga stretch of Friday’s Grade 3 Schuylerville, the large Brazen Persuasion and the diminutive Bahnah were definitely tiring but giving everything they had left to give.
As they hit the wire with their fillies’ heads bobbing up and down Rosie Napravnik, the rider of Brazen Persuasion, looked over at Corey Lanerie, the rider of Bahnah and said, “You got it.”
Napravnik was right and wrong.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer Rudy Rodriguez was on the fence all week trying to decide whether to run Sage Valley in Friday’s $100,000 James Marvin Stakes on opening day at Saratoga. Fortunately, he and co-owner Michael Dubb made the right choice.
Benefiting from a perfectly judged ride by Cornelio Velasquez and a torrid pace that ultimately took its toll on 9-5 favorite Souper Speedy, Sage Valley rallied to a one-length decision over Laurie’s Rocket in the Grade 3 James Marvin, with Hello Lover finishing another half-length further back in third.
Take Charge Indy could make his next start in the Grade 2 Monmouth Cup on the July 28 Haskell undercard after having his second breeze at Churchill following a 20-length defeat in the June 15 Stephen Foster.
With exercise rider John Byrne up, Take Charge Indy went five furlongs Friday in 1:02.80. The 4-year-old colt is booked on a Tuesday charter into Stewart International Airport near Newburgh, N.Y., and would be vanned south to Monmouth Park.
Mike Lauer enjoyed two of the best hours of his life Wednesday night, when his horses accounted for three restricted stakes wins at Indiana Downs in suburban Indianapolis.
Within a five-race span, Lauer won the $89,500 Florence Henderson with Dreamin Big, the $89,650 A.J. Foyt with Sneakin Away, and the $150,000 Governor’s Stakes with Joint Tenant. Lauer not only trains all three but bred and owns them, too, along with his wife, Penny.
Groupie Doll continued her march toward a return to action when breezing five furlongs Friday at Churchill in 1:00.60 under Calvin Borel.
Buff Bradley, trainer and co-owner of the 2012 female sprint champion, said he caught Groupie Doll in her first quarter-mile in “25 and change, so she really picked it up all the way around there. Calvin really liked the way she went, too.”
Bradley is considering the Grade 1 Ballerina at Saratoga on Aug. 25 as a comeback spot for his star mare, along with the Sept. 9 Presque Isle Downs Masters.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - With a combined record of 9 victories in 10 starts, the field for Sunday's $200,000 Sanford Stakes here is not only a precocious one, it also is indisputable evidence of why it is so difficult to win a graded stakes for 2-year-olds during the Saratoga meeting.
[SARATOGA 2013: Complete meet coverage, exclusive DRF videos]
The Grade 1, $1 million Rainbow Futurity for Quarter Horses on Sunday is a battle of brothers. Trainers Eduardo Gonzalez and Juan M. Gonzalez are siblings, and in Reagal Eagle and Rocked Up, they have the fastest qualifiers for the Ruidoso Downs race that for the first time had two days of trials. Those two horses will break from posts 8 and 9.
Trainer Brian Stivers will be seeking his third stakes win from as many starters at the Arapahoe Park meet Sunday, when he sends out Ize in Trouble in the $40,000 Columbine. The 1 1/16-mile race for fillies and mares goes with a full field of 12.
Stivers is 2 for 2 with his Arapahoe starters this season courtesy of Oneotwo, who upset the $40,000 Inaugural at 20-1 in May and then came back and captured the $40,000 George Wafer Memorial on July 7.
With four of the 10 entries in the two races, Stormy Business’s progeny lead the way in the $35,000 MTA Stallion Auction Lassie and Laddie stakes at Canterbury Park on Sunday.
The races are each at 6 1/2 furlongs over the main track and are open to 3-year-old males and females, respectively, who are progeny of stallions whose services were sold in the 2008 Minnesota Thoroughbred Association stallion auction.
