Raise Cain and Lord Miles, who each won a Kentucky Derby prep at Aqueduct, were among an overflow field of 14 horses entered Tuesday in the Grade 3, $500,000 West Virginia Derby. The 1 1/8-mile race will be run Sunday night at Mountaineer Park.
The maximum gate for the field is 12, leaving Russian Hammer and Knockout Guy as also-eligibles.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - West Will Power, winner of the Grade 1 Stephen Foster at Churchill Downs, has been retired from racing due to a soft tissue injury, trainer Brad Cox said in a text message Tuesday.
West Will Power had been under consideration for Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Whitney Stakes. West Will Power was diagnosed with the injury after he worked five furlongs in 1:02.24 over the Oklahoma training track on Saturday.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Bill Mott used to be obsessed with being leading trainer. While, he’s still obsessed with winning, it’s now all about winning the right races, not the most races.
Mott again demonstrated his prowess for winning the right races this weekend at Saratoga when he captured Saturday’s Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt with Elite Power and then came back 24 hours later to win the Grade 2 Bowling Green with the 9-year-old Channel Maker.
Mott has won six races at the meet, four have been stakes.
Juan Hernandez, the leading rider at the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting earlier this year, will miss most of three days of racing at Del Mar to serve a suspension for a recent riding infraction.
Hernandez is suspended on Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 10, for his ride on Wide West in the Daisycutter Handicap for turf sprinters last Friday. Hernandez was cited for altering course without sufficient clearance in the stretch. Wide West was disqualified from sixth and placed seventh.
After a troubled start, the well-regarded 2-year-old Heartland seemed hopelessly beaten in a maiden race at 5 1/2 furlongs at Del Mar on Saturday.
Then came the stretch run. Racing on the rail in a field of six, Heartland closed with a flashy rally under jockey Juan Hernandez to win by two lengths in what is likely to be a prep for the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity at seven furlongs Sept. 10.
“He dug in,” trainer Bob Baffert said on Sunday. “He got a lot of experience from that. We’re happy with him.”
Trainer Phil D’Amato’s turf heavy stable delivered a career milestone Sunday, sweeping the top four positions in the Grade 2 Eddie Read Stakes at Del Mar with Gold Phoenix, Balnikhov, Masteroffoxhounds, and Count Again.
“That was a fun day to see all four of your horses perform well and be competitive from the eighth pole to the wire,” D’Amato reflected on Monday. “It was a great experience and something I won’t forget.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – When one sees Elegant Taste entered in Thursday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Glens Falls Stakes at Saratoga, the first thought is the filly was entered in the wrong race.
Just two weeks ago, the 4-year-old filly won a $10,000 claiming race at Penn National, a race originally scheduled for turf but run on dirt.
She was claimed out of that race by owner Janet Quaintance and trainer Carl O’Callaghan. She will run in Thursday’s 1 1/2-mile race for trainer Lawrence Smith.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Aspen Grove, impressive winner of the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks, heads an 11-horse field of 3-year-old fillies entered in Friday’s Grade 3, $400,000 Saratoga Oaks Invitational at 1 3/16 miles.
Aspen Grove, trained by James Stack, shipped to Saratoga shortly after the Belmont Oaks and has had two works over the training track.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Cherie DeVaux will split up her two talented 3-year-old turf runners, electing to start More Than Looks in Friday’s Grade 2, $500,000 National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame Stakes at Saratoga while sending Northern Invader to Colonial Downs for the Grade 2, $500,000 Secretariat Stakes on Aug. 12.
“More Than Looks is more accomplished. He’s already won a stakes and has more turf experience,” DeVaux said. “Northern Invader is very impressive. It’s a tall task to go into a spot like the Hall of Fame.”
Since 1953, some turf races at Santa Anita have been run on the track’s unique downhill course. Beginning as early as the fall of 2024, a chute will be added to the turf course that will include an uphill feature and allow for one-turn races at a mile.
