SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- Trainer Todd Pletcher confirmed Tuesday that Awesome Maria would run in Saturday’s $750,000 Delaware Handicap, where she will meet Royal Delta.
Awesome Maria defeated Royal Delta by eight lengths in the Sabin at Gulfstream in February. Awesome Maria had a six-race winning streak snapped when she finished third to It’s Tricky in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps at Belmont on May 28.
AUBURN, Wash. – Wins have been hard to come by for Private Fortune, but the stakes-placed mare may have landed in a winning situation Thursday in the feature race at Emerald Downs. The first Thursday card of the meeting, seven races with an average field size of 6.57 horses, begins at 6 p.m. Pacific.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Rahystrada and Boisterous, the one-two finishers in the Arlington Handicap last weekend, are likely to meet again here Aug. 18 in the Arlington Million.
Rahystrada, who surprisingly set the pace and held late-running Boisterous off to win by a neck Saturday, was back home at the Thoroughbred Training Center near Lexington, Ky., this week. His trainer, Scooter Hughes, said Rahystrada is “in pretty good shape” coming out of the Arlington Handicap.
DEL MAR – Acclamation has scared away just about all his rivals from the Grade 1, $300,000 Eddie Read Stakes on Saturday at Del Mar, but not Slim Shadey. Although Slim Shadey ran just two weeks ago in the United Nations at Monmouth, trainer Simon Callaghan on Tuesday said that the prospective small field for the Eddie Read, plus the condition of Slim Shadey coming out of the U.N., will compel him to enter Slim Shadey in the Eddie Read.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Coming off what he called “a slow” Belmont meet in which he won just 14 races, trainer Todd Pletcher hopes to get off to a fast start at Saratoga, where he has runners in seven of the 10 races on Friday’s opening-day card.
Among Pletcher’s runners are Caixa Eletronica in the Grade 3, $100,000 James Marvin Stakes for male sprinters, and Can’t Explain in the Grade 3, $150,000 Schuylerville Stakes for juvenile fillies.
DEL MAR, Calif. – There’s not much about Sean S that would tout her in the morning, according to her trainer, Joshua Litt, but when she gets on the track in the afternoon, it’s a different story. After wallowing in mid-level restricted claiming races for much of her career, Sean S has blossomed in recent months, concurrent with her moving to Litt’s barn and a switch to the turf.
She has won four straight races, three on turf, and goes for a high five Thursday in the featured seventh race at Del Mar.
Jockey Rafael Bejarano is bound for Del Mar this summer, secure in the role of the circuit’s leading rider. He will be in high demand throughout the season in all kinds of races.
Personally, he has other reasons to celebrate what should be a memorable season.
“My mom is here,” he said. “It will be more fun.”
Jake Mo, a stakes winner who has not raced since finishing 10th in the Arkansas Derby, makes his comeback Thursday in the fifth race at Louisiana Downs. The optional $17,500 claiming race carries second-level allowance conditions and will be run over six furlongs. The race will be the first since April 14 for Jake Mo, who earlier this year ran fourth in the $100,000 Smarty Jones, second in a division of the Grade 3, $250,000 Southwest, and fourth in the Grade 2, $500,000 Rebel, all at Oaklawn.
