SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - The Grade 1, $150,000 Jonathan Sheppard Memorial Steeplechase scheduled for Wednesday was postponed due to significant rain in Saratoga. It has been rescheduled for Aug. 27 and was to be redrawn on Thursday.
The other five scheduled turf races scheduled for Wednesday at Saratoga were transferred to the main track.
Wednesday's card will start with race 2 at 1:48 p.m.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Lovesick Blues, winner of the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes on July 26 at Del Mar, will not start again until the Breeders’ Cup Sprint on Nov. 1 at Del Mar.
Trainer Librado Barocio confirmed plans to train Lovesick Blues into the Breeders’ Cup, which means the 7-year-old gelding will go 99 days between starts.
“My gut’s telling me to train him up to the race,” Barocio said last weekend at Del Mar. “He’s good fresh. When I first got him, he fired fresh. I might follow the same pattern unless he’s going crazy. Then, I’ll look for something.”
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Saturday’s 13-race card, highlighted by a front-running score from longshot Mansetti in the $1 million King’s Plate, generated just over $17 million in all-sources wagering, the third highest in the event’s history.
Jockey Kelsi Harr, who has been on a recent roll at Canterbury Park, has the mount on probable favorite Dual Monarchy in Thursday night’s featured ninth race. It’s a two-other-than allowance for 3-year-olds and up at a mile and has a claiming option of $30,000.
Harr has guided Dual Monarchy to two wins in his last three starts. His most recent came over seven furlongs when he defeated stakes winner Sir Sterling. Dual Monarchy will now be moving back to the distance over which he romped by more than 10 lengths on July 12 at Canterbury.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Steve Asmussen did not get much time to savor Magnitude’s 9 3/4-length victory in February’s Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes.
The morning after that Feb. 15 victory at Fair Grounds, Magnitude was diagnosed with a chip in his front left ankle that would require surgery, effectively removing him from Kentucky Derby consideration.
“Dinner tasted good, breakfast tasted like [crap],” Asmussen said.
Trainer Ray Ashford Jr. has some quality 2-year-olds in his Remington Park barn this season, among them It’s All Right. He won a division of the Texas Thoroughbred Association Sales Futurity at Lone Star Park and is coming off a third-place finish in the $100,000 Prairie Meadows Freshman on Saturday.
Ashford said last week that the son of Cairo Prince who races for Ron Stolich could develop into a candidate for the $150,000 Clever Trevor. The seven-furlong race for 2-year-olds is Sept. 28 at Remington.
Holly Dolly, who won sprint stakes at Remington Park and Zia Park, has been retired to join the broodmare band of her owner, Tom Durant, according to trainer Ray Ashford Jr.
“She’s moved into the broodmare business,” said Ashford.
Holly Dolly came to hand last year at Remington, where she won four straight races, including the Flashy Lady Stakes. From there, she added a fifth consecutive win when shipping to New Mexico for the Zia Park Distaff.
Sassy C W, winner of last month’s Prairie Gold Lassie at Prairie Meadows and the Astoria in June at Saratoga, is being pointed for an upcoming stakes at Kentucky Downs, according to her trainer, Larry Rivelli.
The $1 million Untapable on Sept. 7 is the goal for the unbeaten daughter of Yaupon. It is for 2-year-old fillies at 6 1/2 furlongs on turf.
“We’re going to try her on the turf and see if she can stay undefeated,” said Rivelli.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The $1.25 million Travers is obviously the highlight of Saturday’s outstanding 14-race program at Saratoga. Although for bettors, the short field and imposing presence of division leader Sovereignty makes the race pale in comparison to the opportunities that present themselves on a challenging undercard featuring four other Grade 1 stakes.
The undercard is topped by the Personal Ensign, which features the local return of reigning Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna, and an absolutely wide-open renewal of the seven-furlong Allen Jerkens.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – She Feels Pretty, a head winner over European invader Diamond Rain in Saturday’s Grade 1 E.P. Taylor at Woodbine, will be aimed at the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Del Mar on Nov. 1.
Trainer Cherie DeVaux said Monday that the coming weeks will decide whether she simply trains She Feels Pretty to that race or runs her once beforehand, perhaps in a spot like the Grade 3, $175,000 Waya Stakes at Aqueduct on Oct. 5.
