MIAMI – Trainer Stanley Gold admits to being a pessimist at heart when it comes to running his horses, but one would think that particular instinct would not apply when it comes to Calder’s Florida Stallion Stakes.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Now, things are starting to get serious with Uncle Mo.
Uncle Mo, last year’s champion 2-year-old male, has made steady progress in recent weeks, since returning from an illness that knocked him out of the Kentucky Derby this spring. On Tuesday morning at Saratoga, he worked a fast five furlongs with his regular rider, John Velazquez.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - No one hit the pick six for the second straight day at Saratoga on Monday, resulting in a giant, two-day carryover of $232,356 when racing resumes on Wednesday.
Saratoga is dark on Tuesday.
Wednesday's card has 10 races, so the pick begins with the fifth race, the day's feature, the Signature Stallion Waya Stakes.
There was a $69,444 carryover going into Monday after no one hit all six on Sunday.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Although they were raised together on the same farm in Oregon, well-bred Bench Points and nickel-bred Chiloquin otherwise shared little in common.
It was no surprise that the geldings went in different directions. Bench Points burst onto the scene early, winning two stakes at Del Mar; Chiloquin won a maiden-claimer at Fairplex Park. Bench Points won his first four races; Chiloquin won one of four.
Early on, Bench Points and Chiloquin seemed unlikely to meet on the track. That is, until Wednesday at Del Mar.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – A year ago at this time, there were doubts whether Sean Avery would be able to race again. For most of the morning and early afternoon Sunday, there were doubts whether Sean Avery would race in the Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt at Saratoga.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Six horse trainers have won both the Arlington Million and the Beverly D. Stakes at some point during their career, and Christophe Clement is one of them. No trainer, however, has won both races in the same year, and Clement appears to have at least a puncher’s chance of landing both prizes this Saturday at Arlington Park.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Georgie’s Angel and Hilda’s Passion stayed on course for important stakes races later this meet with easy workouts Monday morning on the Oklahoma training track at Saratoga.
Georgie’s Angel, who won the Schuylerville Stakes for 2-year-old fillies on opening day, went a half-mile in 52.08 seconds. She will not run until the Grade 1 Spinaway on Sept. 4.
“She’s just going to go straight to the Spinaway, so she’ll breeze about three more times,” Pletcher said.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Morning Line, the Grade 1 Carter winner who finished last in Saturday’s Whitney Invitational Handicap, will be sent to owner Will Farish’s Lane’s End Farm this week for a break, trainer Nick Zito said Monday. Zito also said that it is likely that Dr. Larry Bramlage, of the Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Versailles, Ky., would likely examine the horse.
“He’s just not the same horse,” said Zito, who noted that preliminary X-rays taken on Morning Line did not reveal any physical issues.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Drosselemyer, the 2010 Belmont Stakes winner, worked five furlongs in 59.04 seconds over the Oklahoma turf in company with the 3-year-old filly Royal Delta. Drosselmeyer is pointing to the Sword Dancer, while Royal Delta, winner of the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes in May, is a candidate for either the Grade 2, $150,000 Lake Placid on turf Aug. 21 or the $500,000 Alabama on dirt the previous day.
