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.
The undefeated filly Big Pond gave owner and breeder George Krikorian an unexpected 78th birthday present with a win in Thursday’s $175,000 Fleet Treat Stakes at Del Mar.
Big Pond stalked the pace and held off a threat from Chismosa to win the seven-furlong race for 3-year-old California-bred fillies by a length in her second start and first against winners.
Big Pond ($9.80) beat a field that included the previously undefeated Ceiling Crusher, who was sent off at 3-10 and could only finish third after a troubled start.
Skinner, second in the Los Alamitos Derby July 8 in his first start in three months, worked five furlongs in 1:00 at Del Mar on Friday in preparation for the Grade 1 Travers Stakes at Saratoga Aug. 26.
Skinner, who was ridden by Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith, worked in company with a stablemate who started in front.
“He wanted to finish,” trainer John Shirreffs said of Skinner. “Mike Smith came back very excited.
She was a topic of widespread discussion at an auction in March, and has gained attention in California this summer.
The career debut of Gate to Paradise is set for a maiden race at Del Mar Sunday, and the 2-year-old filly’s progress of late has left trainer John Shirreffs bullish about her chances.
“She has a way of getting over the ground that is effortless when you watch her,” Shirreffs said. “We’re looking forward to her race. She’s trained well for the race.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Maple Leaf Mel, the undefeated two-time graded stakes-winning New York-bred, completed preparations for next Saturday’s Grade 1 Test by working a half-mile in 49.22 seconds on Friday morning over the Oklahoma training track.
It was her second work – and almost a carbon copy of her previous move – since she won the Grade 3 Victory Ride on July 8 at Belmont Park.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – General Jim, a two-time graded stakes winner on dirt this year, will return to the turf in next Friday’s Grade 2, $500,000 National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame Stakes.
General Jim, a son of Into Mischief, won the Grade 3, Swale at Gulfstream Park in March and the Grade 2 Pat Day Mile at Churchill Downs in May. Most recently, however, he finished sixth, beaten 16 3/4 lengths, in the Grade 1 Woody Stephens at Belmont Park.
Exercise rider Bulfrano Andres Bahena, who suffered serious back as well as various other injuries in a riding mishap Sunday at Gulfstream Park, has been upgraded from critical to stable condition his wife, Monica Garcia, advised on Friday.
Bahena underwent successful surgery on Wednesday at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami to stabilize his back but suffered significant nerve damage according to Garcia and faces a very long road of physical therapy and recovery according to his doctors. She said the long range prognosis remains “unknown” at the present time.
