SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - At last year's Saratoga meet, trainer Todd Pletcher won 18 races for 2-year-olds, including two of the three graded stakes run for juvenile fillies.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer Nick Zito always said Jackson Bend was small in stature but big in heart. He's also a lot faster than most people give him credit for, too.

Prime Cut, idle since finishing 11th in the Belmont Stakes, worked five furlongs in 1:00.22 and galloped out six furlongs in 1:13.43 for trainer Neil Howard shortly after the renovation break Friday at Saratoga.

ERIE, Pa. - Presque Isle Downs has cancelled Friday's card due to the severe heat that's plagued much of the nation.

After consultation with the horsemen and jockeys, management made the decision about an hour before the scheduled 5:30 p.m. Eastern post time. The temperature of the all-weather surface was over 130 degrees.

Thursday's live racing was also scrubbed due to the heat. Saturday's post time is set for 3 p.m.
 

Bold Warrior worked three furlongs in 36.50 here Friday in preparation for his expected start next week in the Curlin Stakes. Unfortunately, he was scheduled to breeze seven furlongs, but nearly halfway through the work, midway around the turn, Bold Warrior’s rider, Jose Lezcano, suddenly fell off. Luckily, Bold Warrior was picked up quickly by the outrider and returned to the barn none the worse for wear. Lezcano was also uninjured and completed all his assignments on Friday’s opening day program.

More Than Real, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, worked four furlongs in 49.23 seconds Friday morning over the Oklahoma turf course in preparation for a start in next Wednesday’s Grade 2, $150,000 Lake George Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Saratoga.

More Than Real has made just one start since then, finishing 11th in the Group 1 Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Cool Blue Red Hot, the third-place finisher in the Grade 2 Dwyer Stakes, will miss next Saturday’s Grade 2, $500,000 Jim Dandy at Saratoga after suffering from a bout of colic, trainer Angel Penna Jr. said Friday.

Penna said the colic bout was short-lived, but it forced him to miss an important work.

“The race is eight days away, that’s gone,” Penna said. “The problem was not a big deal, but the timing is not good. Now I can’t do the workout I needed to do.”

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. − Trainer Al Stall Jr. did a little choreographing here early Friday morning, crafting a workout he hopes will ultimately lead to his second consecutive victory in the Grade 1 Whitney.

Stall sent out Blame to upset the odds-on Quality Road in the 2010 Whitney, a major stepping-stone en route to Blame’s courageous triumph over Zenyatta in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Stall has returned to the Spa this summer with Apart, a three-time graded stakes winner and potentially a major player in the wide-open handicap division during the final half of the season.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. − Tizway, the Metropolitan Handicap winner, worked a solid five furlongs in 1:00.10 Friday morning over the Oklahoma training track as he prepares for a start in the Grade 1, $750,000 Whitney Handicap Invitational here Aug. 6.

Equipped with blinkers and working by himself under exercise rider Andreas Catalan, Tizway went in fractions of 12.90 seconds, 24.29, 35.96, meaning he got his last quarter in 24.15 seconds. He galloped out six furlongs in 1:14.38.

AUBURN, Wash. – For a dizzying 24 hours at least, Vann Belvoir sat atop the trainer standings – at Del Mar of all places. A man who makes his living saddling horses at Emerald Downs sent out longshot winner Mentidoso on opening day at Southern California’s marquee meeting Wednesday, and then won with Emerald shipper Certified Diamond on Thursday. Naturally, Belvoir was loving every minute of it.