All-sources handle on the 10-race Thursday card at Kentucky Downs was $9,695,502, a track record for a weekday opening day. The single-day record of $20.8 million was set last year on the Kentucky Turf Cup card, a record that stands to be broken again next Saturday.
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Al Stall Jr. has a lot on his plate these days. The death of longtime employee Edward Moss had the trainer and his staff reeling while they were getting everything reassembled this week in Barn 45 at Churchill Downs following a busy summer at Saratoga.
Moss, 62, was found dead in his Churchill dorm room after not reporting for work early Monday. No foul play is suspected, said Stall.
Lost Ark, who sailed to a 7 1/2-length win Aug. 27 at Monmouth Park in the $200,000 Sapling Stakes, is bound for the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland, trainer Todd Pletcher said earlier this week.
Lost Ark is by Violence out of Marion Ravenwood, making him the 2-year-old half-brother to Nest, who is well on her way to being champion 3-year-old filly of 2022 for Pletcher. Idol, also out of the same mare, won the 2020 Santa Anita Handicap.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Charge It, who was forced to miss the Runhappy Travers Stakes on Aug. 27 due to a foot abscess, has not yet returned to the track and will be forced to miss the Grade 1, $1 million Pennsylvania Derby on Sept. 24, trainer Todd Pletcher said Wednesday.
Pletcher said Charge It, who won the Grade 3 Dwyer Stakes by 23 lengths on July 2, has not trained in more than a week. He is being hand-walked around the shed row three times a day.
Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., will institute a new trainer bonus program during the meet that opens Dec. 9, the track announced Wednesday. The bonus is a collaboration between the track and the Arkansas Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association.
The “Stay Until May” bonus will pay trainers between $200 to $250 for every “non-stakes starter” that fails to run first, second, or third. In order to be eligible for the bonus, trainers must start at least two horses during the final 14 dates of the season, with one of those during the final nine dates.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Florida Derby winner White Abarrio looked like his old self at Saratoga on Sunday, posting the fastest of 106 half-mile works on the tab that morning while cruising the distance in 46.31 seconds under jockey Tyler Gaffalione and paving the way for a possible start in the $1 million Pennsylvania Derby on Sept. 24 at Parx Racing.
White Abarrio is looking to rebound from a disastrous effort in the Grade 1 Haskell when eased to the wire by Joel Rosario 34 lengths behind the winner, Cyberknife.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Shug McGaughey reported that Kathleen O., idle since her fifth-place finish in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks, is back in training at Churchill Downs and about ready to get back on the work tab shortly. She also is expected to return to McGaughey’s barn when he ships back to Belmont Park sometime next week.
“I just wanted to turn her out for a while” after the Oaks, McGaughey said. “She’s up to a couple of two-minute licks, she went a half in 57 and change at Churchill the other day, and I plan to bring her into Belmont as soon as we get back there.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – A field of eight was entered Wednesday for Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup, including four from the barn of Todd Pletcher.
Pletcher entered Suburban winner Dynamic One, 2021 Cigar Mile winner Americanrevolution, recent allowance winner Keepemeinmind, and Suburban third-place finisher Untreated in the 1 1/4-mile race.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – D. Wayne Lukas turns 87 years old on Friday, but the Hall of Fame trainer hopes to extend the celebration throughout the Labor Day weekend.
Lukas hopes to put the bow on what has been a successful summer in Saratoga – his first time here in three years – where he will have runners in three graded stakes over the weekend, including one in both Grade 1 stakes for 2-year-olds that bring the curtain down on the 154th Saratoga season.
