Unbeaten in two starts, the 2-year-old filly Pushiness may have her first start in a graded stakes as soon as early September after winning her stakes debut in the CTBA Stakes at Del Mar last Sunday.
Owner Mike Repole and trainer Michael McCarthy have two options for Pushiness before the current Del Mar summer season ends Sept. 10 – the $125,000 Generous Portion Stakes for statebred fillies at six furlongs on Sept. 4, or the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante at seven furlongs on Sept. 9.
Del Mar will have a first post time of 3:30 p.m. on Friday and on Aug. 18 after jockeys expressed concern about visibility in later races on recent Friday programs that began at 4 p.m., track officials said earlier this week.
First post time on the final three Fridays of the current summer meeting – Aug. 25, Sept. 1, and Sept. 8 – will be 3 p.m. to adjust for earlier sunsets in late summer.
Ceiling Crusher, a two-time stakes winner beaten for the first time in her fifth start July 27, is an intended runner in the Grade 3 Charles Town Oaks in West Virginia Aug. 25, if she can gain a berth in the field.
The $750,000 Charles Town Oaks at seven furlongs drew a whopping 65 nominations, but will be limited to 10 runners, with four also-eligibles. If the race draws more than 10, as expected, the field will be determined by graded stakes wins or placings, or graded stakes earnings as the first two criteria.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Dave O’Rourke, president and CEO of the New York Racing Association, said Wednesday his organization “dropped the ball” when it came to its handling of the timing of the announcement to take three races off the turf on Sunday at Saratoga and apologized to horseplayers for not being able to refund money wagered in multiple-race pools such as the late pick five.
Steal Sunshine is scheduled to work over the weekend at Gulfstream Park for an intended start in the Grade 3, $250,000 Philip H. Iselin at Monmouth Park, trainer Bobby Dibona said Wednesday.
The Iselin is a 1 1/16-mile race on Aug. 19.
Steal Sunshine has won stakes races at distances of seven furlongs to a mile. He is coming off a runner-up finish in the $60,000 Bill Kaplan Memorial, a 1 1/16-mile overnight handicap July 2 at his base of Gulfstream Park.
One Timer posted the highest turf-sprint Beyer Speed Figure so far this year, 104, winning the Kentucky Downs Turf Sprint Preview Sstakes on Sunday at Ellis Park. But as fast as One Timer ran, it’s not even certain he’s the top one-turn turf horse in trainer Larry Rivelli’s stable. Nobals certainly has accomplished more this year, winning the Grade 2 Turf Sprint at Churchill in May with a 102 Beyer, and he was a good second Saturday at Saratoga finishing second in the Troy Stakes.
“I had to split them up and I feel like I chose the right races,” Rivelli said.
Bus Buzz’s days of racing exclusively in main track sprints for statebreds ended, at least temporarily, with his emphatic win in the Real Good Deal Stakes for 3-year-olds at seven furlongs on dirt at Del Mar last Friday.
For his final start of the Del Mar summer meeting, Bus Buzz is scheduled to run in the Grade 3 Green Flash Handicap at five furlongs on turf Sept. 2. The $150,000 Green Flash Handicap will be Bus Buzz’s stakes debut against older horses.
The winner receives a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Santa Anita on Nov. 4.
It took a few days last week for Northern California-based trainer O.J. Jauregui to find a rider for Dreamfyre in Saturday’s Grade 3 Sorrento Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Del Mar.
A few phone calls and text messages to agents went unanswered, Jauregui said, before Hector Berrios was confirmed to ride Dreamfyre in the $200,000 race at six furlongs.
On Monday at Del Mar, Berrios was aboard Dreamfyre for the first time in a three-furlong workout in a rapid 35 seconds. The time was a bit quicker than Jauregui expected.
All-sources handle through the first four weeks (19 cards) of the Saratoga meet is $380,474,631, down 8.8 percent from the $416,970,416 handled through the first 19 days of the 2022 meet, according to figures provided by the New York Racing Association.
Ontrack handle is $65,703,793, down 6.5 percent from the 2022 figure of $70,264,281 handled last year to this point.
Paid admissions are 509,741, up 4.8 percent from the 486,408 figure of 2022. Paid admissions include season passes sold.
