SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Todd Pletcher said Monday all was well with Malathaat the morning after her disappointing second-place finish to Clairiere as the 3-5 favorite in Sunday’s 2 Grade 2 Shuvee.
“She came back good, seemed just fine this morning,” Pletcher noted. “I don’t know why she was so quiet yesterday. She was very lethargic in the paddock. The only thing I can think of was the heat. It just wasn’t like her. She’s not high strung or animated necessarily, but she was dull."
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Olympiad, who has won four graded stakes this year as part of a 5-for-5 campaign, worked a strong five furlongs in 1:00.86 over Saratoga's Oklahoma training track Sunday morning in preparation for the Grade 1, $1 million Whitney Stakes here on Aug. 6.
Olympiad, under exercise rider Neil Poznansky, started about 1 1/2 lengths in front of Gilded Age, and basically maintained that margin throughout the work in which he got his last quarter in 23.56 seconds.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Corniche, last year’s 2-year-old champion male, worked a solid half-mile Sunday morning at Saratoga and has been confirmed to run in next Sunday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Amsterdam Stakes, a 6 1/2-furlong race for 3-year-olds, trainer Todd Pletcher said.
DEL MAR, Calif. - After a successful journey to the Middle East earlier this year, Country Grammer will have his 2022 American debut in the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap at 1 1/16 miles at Del Mar on Saturday.
The $300,000 San Diego is quite a place for a comeback.
DEL MAR, Calif. - The depth of trainer Phil D’Amato’s Southern California stable was on display in Saturday’s Grade 2 San Clemente Stakes at Del Mar. For the first time since D’Amato began training in the early 2010s, he swept the first three positions in a graded stakes in the $203,500 San Clemente for 3-year-old fillies on turf.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Preakness winner Early Voting got his first feel for Saratoga’s main track Saturday morning as he worked five furlongs in 1:01 in preparation for next Saturday’s Grade 2, $600,000 Jim Dandy Stakes.
With regular rider Jose Ortiz up, Early Voting broke slightly off of stablemate Accretive, a 5 3/4-length debut winner June 26 at Belmont. Early Voting tracked Accretive to the top of the stretch after three furlongs in 36.47 seconds, and the two basically finished together with Accretive a short head in front at the wire.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Balnikhov, who won the first stakes of his career in Friday’s $104,000 Oceanside Stakes at Del Mar, is unlikely to race again until the Grade 2 Del Mar Derby on Sept. 3.
Trainer Phil D’Amato stressed before the Oceanside Stakes that Balnikhov needs time between races and said Saturday that the six-week gap to the $300,000 Del Mar Derby will be beneficial.
“He likes to run fresh,” D’Amato said. “We can give him some time to his next race.”
The Del Mar Derby at 1 1/8 miles on turf is the track’s leading race of the summer meeting for 3-year-olds.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Looks were slightly deceptive during Flightline’s five-furlong workout Saturday at Del Mar.
Shortly after 6:30 a.m., Flightline was guided by exercise rider Juan Leyva down the backstretch where he began a five-furlong workout at the half-mile pole. It seemed as if Flightline was merely galloping through the opening furlong, but was timed in that segment of the exercise in 12.80 seconds.
DEL MAR, Calif. -- A limited sell-out crowd of 21,680 contributed to an opening-day record all-sources handle of $23,556,047 on Friday’s inaugural program of the Del Mar summer meeting.
The all-sources handle figure, which includes ontrack, simulcast, and account wagering sources, surpassed the previous record of $21.3 million set in 2021.
Winning tickets in the 50-cent late pick five Friday at Gulfstream Park were worth $7,060.65 after $645,877 in new money was bet into a rare carryover.
A 30-1 winner, Thrilling Baby, in the opening leg of a sequence that spanned races 5-9, was followed by winners at odds of 2-1, 4-5, 7-1, and 5-2. The winning numbers were 6-2-7-5-12.
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