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.
The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority has been conducting an “expanded” review of the records of horses that have died at Saratoga Racecourse this year and will share the results of the review publicly, the organization said Thursday.
Piroli went from a career-best performance when second in the Grade 1 Hollywood Gold Cup at Santa Anita on May 29 to the worst luck of his career when he finished a troubled fourth in an allowance race at Del Mar on July 30.
The allowance race served as a prep for a scheduled start in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Sept. 2, even though the three-length loss was more eventful than trainer Michael McCarthy would have preferred.
After stumbling at the start, Piroli closed from last of nine with a sustained wide run.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The hope is jockey Luis Saez will miss only three to five weeks after suffering a dislocated right collarbone and fractured left wrist as the result of a spill in which he was involved during the running of Wednesday’s $135,000 John’s Call Stakes at Saratoga, according to his agent, Kiaran McLaughlin.
Saez will not need to undergo surgery, McLaughlin said.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- Flavien Prat will ride Mage in Saturday’s Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers Stakes, according to part-owner Ramiro Restrepo.
Prat replaces Luis Saez, who suffered a dislocated right collarbone and a fractured wrist during the running of Wednesday’s $135,000 John’s Call Stakes. Saez rode Burning Bright, who suffered a fatal cardiovascular collapse entering the first turn of the turf race, unseating Saez.
