Trainer Rick Violette said Spurious Precision came out of his five-length victory in Sunday’s Grade 2 Saratoga Special Stakes “a little tired, deservedly so” but otherwise in good order. After running twice in 22 days, Spurious Precision will now have about eight weeks to his next start, the Grade 1, $400,000 Champagne Stakes at Belmont on Oct. 6.
“Waiting for the Champagne gives us a chance to let him chill out a little bit and have a fresh horse for the fall,” Violette said.
The days of Champagneandcaviar going to post at 28-1 appear to be over. After her upset victory at those long odds in the Kent Handicap her previous start, the 3-year-old filly moved to the head of her division Saturday at Emerald Downs with a victory in the $73,250 Washington Oaks.
Makors Finale won the $74,750 Emerald Downs Derby on Sunday, his third stakes victory of the meeting and a resounding return to form following an off-the-board finish in his previous start. The derby victory all but clinched honors for Makors Finale as Emerald’s 3-year-old of the meeting.
Chad Brown took a page from the book of his mentor, Bobby Frankel, when putting together his set lists for the turf Monday, working his two top female grass horses, Zagora and Dream Peace, in company during the special session reserved for stakes horses at 9:45 a.m.
Zagora, winner of the Grade 1 Diana here last summer, and Dream Peace, who finished second behind Winter Memories making her U.S. debut last month in the Diana, proved a perfect match, completing an easy half-mile in 47.88 seconds and galloping out five-eighths in 1:00.23 on Monday.
Royal Delta provided further proof that her hard-fought victory in last month’s Delaware Handicap took little out her as she breezed a sharp five furlongs in 1:00.66 on Monday morning over the Oklahoma training track.
Royal Delta, last year’s champion 3-year-old filly, is preparing for a start in the Personal Ensign Invitational Handicap here Aug. 26. Royal Delta won the Delaware Handicap by a neck over Tiz Miz Sue on July 21, racing on a surface she did not seem to relish.
Hoping against hope that his horse could make the Travers, Zayat finally let go of the dream Monday morning, announcing on Twitter that Paynter would not make the race.
Paynter, who spent more than a week in a New Jersey veterinary clinic, arrived at Belmont Park on Friday. On Monday, he began walking under tack, the first time he’s had a saddle on his back since the Haskell on July 29.
Zayat finally realized that by pushing Baffert into running Paynter in the Travers it would likely compromise the colt’s chances for any success the remainder of the year.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – With four Grade 1 winners and seven graded stakes winners overall expected to be entered Wednesday when post positions are drawn, Saturday’s Grade 1, $600,000 Alabama Stakes at Saratoga is shaping up to be a key race in the battle for the 3-year-old filly championship.
“This is absolutely, without a doubt, a definitive race in that division,” said trainer Tony Dutrow, who will send out Florida Oaks and Delaware Oaks winner Grace Hall. “The winner will make a bold statement.”
DEL MAR, Calif. – One of the most potentially lucrative days for bettors in Del Mar history will be in the offing Wednesday, with massive carryovers in both the pick five and the pick six, both courtesy of a Sunday card in which so many longshots won that no one was alive in the pick six after just three legs.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Even though it was a trip to forget, Bob Baffert returned from Dubai a changed man, and Game On Dude returned from Dubai a different horse.
Baffert suffered a heart attack there, and though it sounds like a made-for-television cliché, he’s taking things much easier than before that episode. Game On Dude ran poorly in the World Cup, but has come roaring back since then, with two victories, and has continued to train strongly in advance of the Grade 1, $1 million Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Aug. 26.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – On the day that owner Ahmed Zayat finally came to terms with the fact his Haskell winner Paynter will not make the Travers Stakes – and officially declared him out of the race – three horses that figure to offer juicy odds in the Mid-Summer Derby put in workouts over Saratoga’s main track Monday morning.
