SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.- After suffering narrow setbacks at the hands of arch rival Gitchee Goomie in each of her last two starts, Hessonite got a bit of a breather on Friday, cruising to an easy 4 1/4-length victory over Inimitable Romance in the $100,000 Irish Linnet stakes decided over a yielding turf course at Saratoga.
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DEL MAR, Calif. - Quiet Oasis, the winner of two graded stakes for turf females at Hollywood Park earlier this year, has been turned out for the rest of the year after undergoing surgery to have a bone chip removed from a knee, trainer Ben Cecil said.
“She’s out for three months and won’t run again until next year,” Cecil said.
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AUBURN, Wash. – While many 2-year-olds are still taking baby steps at Emerald Downs, a group of the most promising will be put to an early test Sunday in the $50,000 Premio Esmeralda Stakes for colts and geldings. The six-furlong sprint is the eighth of nine races on a card that begins at 2 p.m. Pacific.
[bc_video_id:258360:]OCEANPORT, N.J. – Get Serious, back in winning form, bids for a third victory in the Grade 3, $150,000 Oceanport Stakes on Sunday on the Haskell undercard at Monmouth Park.
The other supporting events include the Grade 3, $150,000 Matchmaker for fillies and mares on the turf and a pair of $100,000 overnight stakes: the Majestic Light and the Teddy Drone.
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AUBURN, Wash. – The field for the Aug. 19 Longacres Mile came into clearer focus this week at Emerald Downs. According to their respective trainers, defending champion Awesome Gem is a definite, and Jersey Town, the Mile runner-up in 2010, is a definite maybe for the Northwest’s richest race.
Trainer Michelle Nihei had penciled in a five-furlong work over the Oklahoma turf course on Friday morning for her Grade 3 winner Upgrade in what was to be his final prep prior to the Grade 2 Fourstardave. But with light rain falling when she arrived at the track early Friday and the prospect for more as the morning progressed, Nihei got out her eraser and switched Upgrade’s work to dirt. A wise choice, as things turned out, after turf workouts were subsequently canceled due to the wet conditions.
Trainer Rusty Arnold began the week winning a turf stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Saratoga. He hopes to end the weekend in the same fashion.
Arnold, who won Wednesday’s Grade 2 Lake George with Centre Court, will send out Grade 1 Ashland winner Karlovy Vary in Sunday’s $100,000 Nani Rose Stakes, scheduled for one mile on the inner turf.
Karlovy Vary, who won the Ashland over Keeneland’s synthetic surface, is 3 for 4 on turf, including a third-level allowance win at Churchill in her last start.
Paynter and Gemologist are the marquee names going into Sunday’s Grade 1, $1 million Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park. Nonios could be the name people are talking about coming out of the race.
If he can successfully transfer his synthetic form from California to the dirt of the Jersey Shore, Nonios could be poised to pull off an upset in the Haskell, the major event of the Monmouth Park meeting.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Currency Swap returns to the scene of his finest hour, coming back to Saratoga for Sunday’s $200,000 Amsterdam. The Grade 2, 6 1/2-furlong Amsterdam serves as a prep for the meet’s lone Grade 1 race for 3-year-old male sprinters, the seven-furlong King’s Bishop on Aug. 25.
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The multiple graded stakes winner Successful Dan has developed filling in the pastern of his left foreleg and will be forced to skip next Saturday’s Grade 1, $750,000 Whitney Handicap at Saratoga, trainer Charles Lopresti said Friday afternoon.
Successful Dan was scheduled to be vanned to Lexington, Ky., on Saturday and will be further evaluated by Dr. Larry Bramlage at the Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital on Wednesday.
