Response Time took the race to favored Princess Kokachin, dispatched that rival entering the second turn, then held off Malibu Beauty’s late bid to post a 1 1/4-length victory in Saturday’s $75,000 Timonium Distaff for fillies and mares at 6 1/2 furlongs.
Princess Kokachin appeared the main speed, but jockey Jeiron Barbosa hustled Response Time out of the gate and refused to allow Princess Kokachin an uncontested lead.
DEL MAR, Calif. — Pastor T, an impressive maiden race winner in his debut on Aug. 12 and one of Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert’s leading 2-year-olds this summer, was euthanized Saturday after suffering a catastrophic leg injury during a workout at Del Mar.
Pastor T was nearing the final line when he was stricken.
By Into Mischief, Pastor T raced for Siena Farm and WinStar Farm. Pastor T was bred by WinStar Farm.
Fierceness, a 2-year-old colt by City of Light, made an eye-catching debut Friday at Saratoga, splashing his way to an 11 1/4-length victory over a sloppy track.
Owned and bred by Mike Repole and trained by Todd Pletcher, Fierceness was drawing comparisons to Uncle Mo – trained by Pletcher for Repole – who won his debut on Travers Day (Aug.28) 2010 by 14 1/4 lengths on his way to winning the Champagne and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, and being crowned 2-year-old champion.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — Idiomatic, Secret Oath, and Nest – the top three finishers from Friday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Personal Ensign Stakes at Saratoga, are likely to meet again in the Grade 1, $600,000 Spinster at Keeneland on Oct. 8.
Idiomatic, trained by Brad Cox, scored a front-running, four-length victory over a sloppy Saratoga track in the Personal Ensign to notch her first Grade 1 victory while winning for the fifth time in six starts. In doing so, Idiomatic defeated Grade 1 winners Nest – the champion 3-year-old filly of 2022 – Secret Oath, and Clairiere.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — Rhyme Schemes, whose back-to-back 9 1/2-length victories put him among the leaders of the 2-year-old male division, will be sidelined the remainder of the year due to an ankle injury, trainer Norm Casse said Saturday morning.
“He has a minor right front ankle injury that’s going to force us to miss the rest of the year,” Casse said. “Obviously, we’re really disappointed, but excited to get him back and proud of what he’s accomplished so far.”
A jockey cannot be more closely associated with a mount than Anne Sanguinetti is with Your Royal Flyness, who starts in Monday’s second race at Golden Gate Fields.
Sanguinetti’s family bred Your Royal Flyness. The filly races for Sanguinetti’s parents, John and Chris, residents of Hawaii.
Anne Sanguinetti rode the dam of Your Royal Flyness, Chronologic’sghost, to all four of her career wins at Golden Gate Fields in 2015 and 2016. Chronologic’sghost was second and third in three stakes at Remington Park and Emerald Downs with Sanguinetti aboard.
Most people had turned their attention away from the finish line when Stilleto Boy crossed the wire in last place in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar last September.
It was easy to overlook Stilleto Boy. Flightline, later named 2022 Horse of the Year, won the $1 million race by a record-breaking 19 1/4 lengths, his fifth win of an unbeaten six-race career that ended with a victory in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland last November.
Stilleto Boy reached the wire about the same time Flightline was galloping out to an enthusiastic reception.
Nostalgic, winner of a third-level allowance race here Aug. 15, will be considered for the Grade 2, $250,000 Beldame Stakes at Aqueduct on Oct. 8, trainer Bill Mott said Friday.
Nostalgic, who won the Grade 3 Gazelle at Aqueduct in 2022, was making just her second start of the year when she won the 1 1/8-mile allowance over Gerrymander. Her previous race was a neck defeat to Sixtythreecaliber in a similar spot here on July 19.
Mott said Nostalgic had a lengthy break between her 3- and 4-year-old campaigns because she was “worn out. She needed to charge her batteries.
War Like Goddess, the eight-time graded stakes winning mare, will miss the Grade 2, $500,000 Flower Bowl Stakes next Saturday after missing some time due to a fever.
Trainer Bill Mott said War Like Goddess missed six days of training shortly after she ran second in the Grade 2 Glens Falls Stakes here on Aug. 3. She has not worked back.
Mott said that depending how things go this week, War Like Goddess could be aimed at the Grade 2, $1 million Kentucky Turf Cup at Kentucky Downs Sept. 9 or the Grade 1, $500,000 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at Aqueduct Sept. 30.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — Evvie Jets, upset winner of Thursday’s Grade 2 Ballston Spa Stakes at Saratoga, may step into Grade 1 company next in the Grade 1, $750,000 First Lady Stakes at Keeneland Oct 7, trainer Mertkan Kantarmaci said Friday.
“I think she deserves to be there,” Kantarmaci said. “We can go early so she can get used to the place.”
Evvie Jets showed a new dimension in the Ballston Spa, rallying from 9 1/2-lengths off the pace and outfinishing Fluffy Socks to win by a head. Evvie Jets earned a 90 Beyer Speed Figure for the performance.
