SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - The connections of Stay Thirsty said the best way for their 3-year-old to emerge from the shadow of his champion stablemate Uncle Mo was to step up and win a big race.
Following a near-hit in the Belmont Stakes, Stay Thirsty finally got a big win Saturday at Saratoga, rolling to a four-length victory in the Grade 2, $500,000 Jim Dandy Stakes before a crowd of 30,048 on a sultry afternoon.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Favored Anne’s Beauty collared Arlington shipper Honey Chile in late stretch before drawing clear to take the $150,400 Duchess Stakes at Woodbine on Saturday.
Anne’s Beauty ($6.20) assumed an outside position in mid-pack on the backstretch in the seven-furlong event, while Honey Chile and Elusive Pearl traded places on the lead. Anne’s Beauty commenced a wide rally at the quarter pole, and went on to prevail by two lengths in 1:22.83.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel won back-to-back editions of Saratoga’s Grade 1 Diana Handicap in 2001 and 2002. On Saturday, Frankel’s former assistant Chad Brown added his name to the roster of Diana winners by sending out Zagora to a 1 1/2-length victory over Aruna to earn the first Grade 1 victory of his training career in the $500,000 race.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Sugarinthemorning ($3.60) led throughout Saturday’s $100,000 Fleet Treat Stakes for 3-year-old statebred fillies at Del Mar, recording her second consecutive stakes win.
Sugarinthemorning finished 3 1/4 lengths in front of Magic School, a 22-1 outsider in the field of five. Zenidekka finished third.
Startin Something remained perfect on the River Downs turf as fillies ran first and second in the $50,000 Horizon at River Downs on Saturday.
Trained by Tim Hamm and ridden by Cesar Camaque. Startin Something was kept back off the early pace in the 1 1/16-mile event until upper stretch. Camaque angled the 3-year-old Ohio-bred filly four wide on the turn and wore down leader Flopsy in the stretch to win by a length. Pacesetting Johnny Slots tired and finished third, 2 3/4 lengths back.
DEL MAR, Calif - Bourbon Bay, the multiple stakes winner on turf, changed surfaces on Friday and won the $125,000 Cougar II Handicap on Del Mar’s Polytrack synthetic surface in track-record time. It was a temporary surface switch.
After the race, trainer Neil Drysdale said that Bourbon Bay will revert to turf for his next start, most likely the $200,000 Del Mar Handicap over 1 3/8 miles on Aug. 28.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - Tiger Cat Lilly stretched her winning streak to three on Saturday with a 1 3/4-length win over Cofachiqui in the $66,100 Crank It Up Stakes for 3-year-old filly sprinters on the turf at Monmouth Park.
Following heavy rain in the area on Friday evening, the Crank It Up was the only one of four carded turf races to remain on the grass. The course was rated good as they ran the 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:03.16.
Trainer Kathy Ritvo let Mucho Macho Man run down the lane a little bit over the Oklahoma training track on Friday, the first real strenuous bit of work he’s had since finishing a distant seventh following early trouble in the Belmont Stakes. Mucho Macho Man won the Grade 2 Risen Star earlier this winter as a prelude to his third-place finish in the Kentucky Derby.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Santa Anita Handicap winner Game On Dude zipped through a five-furlong workout in 59.20 seconds at Del Mar on Saturday, leaving trainer Bob Baffert confident approaching the $1 million Pacific Classic on Aug. 28.
The workout so impressed Baffert that he briefly kicked around the idea of sending Game On Dude to the $750,000 Whitney Stakes at Saratoga on Saturday.
“I should send him to the Whitney,” Baffert said shortly after the workout. “He’s ready to run.”
