Welcome to Spa Babies! I'll break down the statistics for every juvenile contest at the meet and hope for a tidy profit.

In past years, I would list the stats for each horse before writing up my analysis, selections and wagering strategy.
In order to streamline the content, this year's Spa Babies will showcase written analyses of each juvenile race.
Each analysis will include relevant statistical information.  Following the analysis, top three selections and wagering strategy will be provided.

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Welcome to Spa Babies! I'll break down the statistics for every juvenile contest at the meet and hope for a tidy profit.

In past years, I would list the stats for each horse before writing up my analysis, selections and wagering strategy.
In order to streamline the content, this year's Spa Babies will showcase written analyses of each juvenile race.
Each analysis will include relevant statistical information.  Following the analysis, top three selections and wagering strategy will be provided.

Claresmiezie, ($2.40) toyed with her rivals in the $50,000 Princess Margaret for 2-year-old fillies at Northlands Park on Friday evening.  

DEL MAR, Calif. - Bourbon Bay won for the first time on a synthetic track, and scored his first stakes win since January, in Friday's $125,000 Cougar II Handicap at Del Mar.

With the victory in the Grade 3 race, Bourbon Bay ($6.40) earned a fees-paid berth in the Breeders’ Cup Marathon in November, but trainer Neil Drysdale said Bourbon Bay was likely to return to turf racing.

On turf in the last 18 months, Bourbon Bay has won four graded stakes.

Parx shipper Inspired, the second longest shot on the board, got loose on the lead and barely hung on to score a 16-1 upset in Friday night’s Jenny Wade Handicap for fillies and mares at Penn National.

The Jenny Wade was one of four $100,000 stakes on a 10-race card that served as an appetizer for Saturday night’s $200,000 Pennsylvania Governor’s Cup. A special daily double linking the two turf sprints was offered.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer Todd Pletcher doesn't really need any additional help to win stakes races, but he got some when his Turbo Compressor was surprisingly allowed to set a pedestrian pace en route to a 2 3/4-length victory over the 3-2 Raison d'Etat in Friday's Curlin Stakes at rainy Saratoga.

Metropolitan Handicap winner Tizway completed preparations for his start in Saturday’s Grade 1 Whitney Invitational Handicap by working five furlongs in 1:00.34 over the Oklahoma training track Friday morning.

Under exercise rider Andreas Catalan, Tizway went in splits of 12.84 seconds, 24.76, 36.52, and got his last quarter in 23.88 seconds. He galloped out six furlongs in 1:13.54.

Joyful Victory, the multiple-stakes-winning 3-year-old filly who finished fourth as the favorite in the Kentucky Oaks, underwent knee surgery Friday at the Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Kentucky to remove a chip out of a knee, trainer Larry Jones said.

Jones said he believes Joyful Victory came out of her last-place finish in the Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga with the injury. Jones said that Joyful Victory could return to his barn in September, but that she would not run again until next year.

Santa Anita reopened its main track for full training on Thursday after limiting activity to joggers and gallopers on Tuesday and Wednesday. The track underwent a two-week project to reduce clay content and add sand, which began on July 11.

There were eight recorded works on the main track on Thursday, and 23 on Friday, including several trained by Bob Baffert. His stable at Santa Anita is directed by assistant Mike Marlow.

“I’ve heard nothing but high praises for it,” Baffert said of the track. “Mike said it’s really good.”

Trainer Ken McPeek’s stable is primed for a big week of stakes action here at Saratoga, beginning with Scotus’s attempt to join the elite of the 3-year-old division in Saturday’s Jim Dandy. McPeek will also be represented in Grade 1 events next weekend by Noble’s Promise in the Vanderbilt, Salty Strike in the Test, and perhaps Gautier in the Whitney. He’s also planning to run Dark Cove in Friday’s John’s Call overnight stakes with an eye on the Grade 1 Sword Dancer later in the session.