DEL MAR, Calif. - Coil, upset as the heavy favorite in the Swaps Stakes at Hollywood Park on July 9, turned in an impressive workout at Del Mar on Tuesday morning and is under serious consideration for the Grade 1, $1 million Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park on July 31, trainer Bob Baffert said.
DEL MAR, Calif - Two prominent stakes horses who had excellent Santa Anita campaigns before last racing in Dubai are nearing returns at Del Mar.
The wickedly fast sprinter Euroears, second in the Golden Shaheen after winning the Palos Verdes earlier this year, rocketed from the gate at Del Mar on Monday morning, going six furlongs in 1:11.40. He is set to return in the Grade 1, $250,000 Bing Crosby Stakes at six furlongs on July 31.
“He went nice,” trainer Bob Baffert said. “He came back from Dubai pretty jarred up.”
AUBURN, Wash. – Immigration, closing in on $200,000 in career earnings but in the midst of a long losing streak, will be a leading contender if he starts as scheduled Thursday in the feature race at Emerald Downs. First post time is 6 p.m. Pacific, and the feature, a $12,500 claimer at one mile, is the seventh of eight races.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Add another Grade 1 winner to the Whitney field.
Giant Oak, who won the Grade 1 Donn Handicap at Gulfstream in February, arrived at Saratoga on Tuesday morning to prepare for a start in the Grade 1, $750,000 Whitney Handicap here Aug. 6. He will join other Grade 1 winners such as Tizway, Pool Play, Sidney’s Candy, Morning Line, and Rail Trip as well as graded stakes winners Mission Impazible and Rodman.
Trainer Chris Block said he shipped Giant Oak here from Arlington early in order to get a couple of works over Saratoga’s main track.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Flashy Lassie, upset winner of the Grade 3 Debutante at Churchill Downs, heads a nine-horse field of 2-year-old fillies entered in the Schuylerville at six furlongs. [UPDATE: Flashy Lassie to scratch from Schuylerville]
Snug and Local are among the top Louisiana-breds in training, and both went through a dispersal auction last week. Carl Moore purchased the horses from the Heiligbrodt Racing Stable consignment at Fasig-Tipton, and has sent them to his longtime trainer, Bret Calhoun. The pair will be pointed to next month’s Louisiana Cup program at Louisiana Downs
“Both are in my barn in Kentucky, and they’ll stay here until this next Louisiana Champions Day,” Calhoun said of the statebred stakes program Aug. 20. “There are races for both of them that day.”
DEL MAR, Calif. – Although he has developed into one of the elite older horses on this circuit, Caracortado never has raced at Del Mar, but he will be aiming high this summer. On Saturday, Caracortado is scheduled to run in the Grade 1, $300,000 Eddie Read Stakes on the turf, and later this meet, Mike Machowsky, his trainer and co-owner, wants to shoot for the season’s biggest prize, the Grade 1, $1 million Pacific Classic on Aug. 28.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The traditional opening-day feature at Saratoga is the Grade 3, $100,000 Schuylerville Stakes for 2-year-old fillies. It is quickly becoming upstaged by the $75,000 James Marvin Stakes for older male sprinters at seven furlongs.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Round 7 of the best rivalry in horse racing could be held at Saratoga – if the price is right.
One day after pouring cold water on a potential rematch with Delaware Handicap winner Blind Luck in the Grade 1, $300,000 Personal Ensign at Saratoga on Aug. 28, Rick Porter, the owner of Delaware Handicap runner-up Havre de Grace, said he would reconsider if the New York Racing Association were to double the purse of the race to $600,000.
“Double the pot and it’s game on,” Porter told Daily Racing Form by phone Tuesday.
DEL MAR, Calif. – There’s no racing at Churchill Downs the day after the Kentucky Derby, or at Pimlico the day after the Preakness, or at Belmont Park the day after the Belmont Stakes, so it’s quite possible that the greatest contrast in consecutive racing days in North America is here at Del Mar, where 10,000 or so regulars take back the track on Thursday after the departure of the once-a-year poseurs who make up the 40,000 or so who turn up for opening-day Wednesday.
