Nine maiden winners, one stakes winner, and one first-time starter comprise a field of 11 2-year-old fillies entered Friday for Thursday’s Grade 3, $175,000 Schuylerville Stakes, the opening-day feature on a 10-race Saratoga card.
The Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse hopes to kick off a big opening week in Saratoga when he sends out Sugar Treat, a half-length debut winner over Gulfstream Park’s synthetic surface on June 10.
Los Alamitos-based trainers Milton Pineda and Reed Saldana have been provisionally suspended by the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit after five positives for a banned medication were found in their runners at Santa Anita last month, the regulatory body announced on its website Friday.
Post-race tests revealed positives for diisopropylamine, which is considered a therapeutic substance “that could have diuretic effects and assist in preventing” bleeding, according to a ruling issued by the racing authority of the United Arab Emirates in 2021.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Todd Pletcher seems genuinely torn where next to run Forte, last year’s 2-year-old champion who ran a game second in the Belmont Stakes last month off a 10-week layoff.
While the Grade 2, $600,000 Jim Dandy at Saratoga would give Forte an additional week from the Belmont and a race over the track where the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers will be run on Aug. 26, the Haskell on July 22 at Monmouth Park is a Grade 1 and worth $1 million.
Kentucky Derby winner Mage moved a step closer to his next start after working six furlongs in 1:13.75 Friday at the Thoroughbred Training Center in Lexington, Ky., according to assistant trainer Gustavo Delgado Jr. Regular exercise rider J.J. Delgado was aboard.
The work was the third and stiffest yet for Mage since being given some time off following his third-place finish as the 7-5 favorite in the Preakness on May 20.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Bill Mott all but confirmed Metropolitan Handicap winner Cody’s Wish will make his next start in the Grade 1 Whitney here on Aug. 5 after watching the fan favorite breeze a very easy five furlongs in 1:01 over the Oklahoma training track on Friday.
Stilleto Boy, winner of the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap in March, emerged from a sixth-place finish in the Grade 1 Stephen Foster Stakes at Ellis Park on Saturday “a little tired,” according to trainer Ed Moger Jr.
Stilleto Boy, who was shipped to Santa Anita on Sunday, will make his next start in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Sept. 2, Moger said.
The $1 million Pacific Classic at 1 1/4 miles is the richest annual race for older horses in California, and a prep for the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Nov. 4.
Eda extended her winning streak to six races with her fifth stakes win in Tuesday’s Grade 2, $202,000 Great Lady M. Stakes for fillies and mares at Los Alamitos, and in doing so gave trainer Bob Baffert a reason to point the 4-year-old filly to the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Santa Anita on Nov. 4.
Eda, owned by Charles and Susan Chu, dueled with Elm Drive through a quick pace and repelled a late challenge from the outsider Chismosa to win the 6 1/2-furlong race by a neck.
The Texas Racing Commission has shut down Retama Park near San Antonio for “unsafe conditions” and violations of state racing regulations, the commission said late Wednesday.
The shut-down order affects the five live racing dates for Retama’s ongoing Quarter Horse meet scheduled through July 14, according to the racing commission. Retama opened its 23-day Quarter Horse meet on June 29, running through Aug. 19.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Arcangelo returned to the work tab for the first time since his victory in the Belmont Stakes on June 10, breezing five furlongs in 58.61 seconds per Daily Racing Form over a fast main track Wednesday at Saratoga.
Warrior‘s Pride showed both his durability and versatility Sunday at Gulfstream Park when rallying to a two-length victory in the Bob Umphrey Sprint. The speedster had captured the 2021 version of the race on grass before coming back to win the summer fixture, part of Gulfstream’s Summit of Speed weekend, over the Tapeta course two years later.
