The first three finishers of the Grade 3 Sorrento Stakes on Aug. 5 will probably be absent from the $250,000 Del Mar Debutante over seven furlongs on Saturday.
Race winner Mighty Caroline has been retired because of injury and will be bred next year. River Kiss and Heleonor Rugby, who were second and third, are entered in Wednesday’s Generous Portion Stakes for statebreds.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Caracortado may have an all-California campaign this fall, following his first graded stakes win in 18 months in Saturday’s $200,000 Del Mar Mile.
Co-owner and trainer Mike Machowsky said the $175,000 California Cup Classic, run on turf for the first time in October, and the Grade 1 Citation Handicap at Hollywood Park in late November are the primary goals in coming months. A start in a Breeders’ Cup race may wait until 2012, when the series is run at Santa Anita.
“The Breeders’ Cup is doubtful,” Machowsky said. “I want a fresh horse for next year.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Hurricane Irene may have done minimal damage to the grandstand and barn areas, but it dealt Saratoga a rather substantial blow from a business standpoint when it passed through the area Sunday.
Uncle Mo wasn’t the only horse that lost a shoe in Saturday’s Grade 1 King’s Bishop.
Flashpoint, the 5-2 second choice who dueled with Runflatout and Poseidon’s Warrior through fractions of 22.23 seconds and 44.92 before finishing fifth, lost his left front shoe, trainer Wesley Ward said Monday at Aqueduct. Ward said the foot was a “little tender” but once treated with hot water and Epsom salts “will come around real fast.”
Ward said that having the rail may have compromised Flashpoint’s chances in the King’s Bishop.
Trainer Chad Brown is hoping his already outstanding Saratoga summer will get even better Wednesday when he sends out Kid Kate against just four foes in the $75,000 Lady Tak overnight stakes.
Brown enters the final week of the meet with 19 victories, placing him second only to Todd Pletcher in the trainer standings. One of those wins came from Kid Kate, who rallied to a 1 1/4-length triumph in the Rachel Alexandra Stakes on Aug. 1.
Sidney’s Candy, who has won at distances from 5 1/2 furlongs to 1 1/8 miles, will make his next start in Saturday’s Grade 1, $250,000 Forego Stakes going seven furlongs at Saratoga, his connections said Monday.
Sidney’s Candy will be making just his third career start on dirt in the Forego, having won the off-the-turf Sir Beaufort last Dec. 26 at a mile at Santa Anita and having finished 17th in the 2010 Kentucky Derby over a sloppy track.
Big Drama, the reigning sprint champion who has been idled since his record-setting performance in Gulfstream Park’s Grade 3 Mr. Prospector on Jan. 15, could launch his comeback over his home base at Calder on Sunday in the 6 1/2-furlong Whippleton Handicap.
The Whippleton, an overnight handicap, originally had a purse of $55,000 that included $5,000 in Florida Owners Awards, but management has increased the purse to $75,000 to help the race fill.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – While most people would probably agree that Stay Thirsty moved to the head of the 3-year-old division with his impressive victory in the Grade 1 Travers on Saturday afternoon at Saratoga, not everybody is ready to make that concession.
Trainer Todd Pletcher said Monday that he believes Stay Thirsty deserves to sit atop the division.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Bourbonstreetgirl didn’t have the smoothest of trips when she won her career debut three weeks ago. Trainer Gary Contessa hopes the education the 2-year-old filly received that day pays dividends when she jumps into stakes company in Wednesday’s $75,000 P.G. Johnson at 1 1/16 miles over Saratoga’s Mellon Turf course.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Dealing with the effects of a hurricane might be a new experience for the majority of trainers and horses stabled at Saratoga this summer, but not for Phil Gleaves or his handicap star Mambo Meister who have weathered their share of tropical storms and hurricanes while stabled regularly at Calder Race Course in south Florida over the past several summers.
