SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- Matareya, undefeated in four starts this year including the Grade 1 Acorn, and Hot Peppers, a winner of five of six starts this year, head the field of seven 3-year-old fillies entered in the Grade 1, $500,000 Test Stakes at seven furlongs.
The Test and the Grade 1, $1 million Saratoga Derby Invitational, for 3-year-olds going 1 3/16 miles on turf, head the undercard stakes on a 12-race program topped by the Grade 1, $1 million Whitney Stakes for older males on dirt.
Adding to what already has been a fabulous year, Saffie Joseph Jr. won five of the 11 races run last Saturday at Gulfstream, marking a personal high.
“We did four already, but this was the most,” said Joseph. “It was a great day.”
Only two of the five winners were favorites, and Joseph had a starter in only one other Saturday race, that being Treasure King, seventh in the Bear’s Den. The final odds on his winners were 9-5, 6-5, 7-1, 9-2, and 6-1.
Michael Yates will have a top contender in each division of the Florida Sire Stakes when the first legs of the annual series for 2-year-olds are run Saturday at Gulfstream Park.
Yates will saddle Cajun Hope for the $100,000 Dr. Fager and Go Lil Lady for the $100,000 Desert Vixen in twin six-furlong races that lead off the series restricted to the offspring of accredited sires standing in Florida. The Dr. Fager is for 2-year-olds and the Desert Vixen for 2-year-old fillies.
Gulfstream is hosting a forceout of its growing Rainbow 6 pool Sunday. Entries are drawn Thursday.
Assuming the Rainbow 6 jackpot isn’t swept by a solo winning ticket Friday or Saturday, several million dollars in new handle can be expected with the forceout, given this week starts with a carryover of $222,085. A $350,000 pool guarantee is in effect as a new three-day weekend begins Friday.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- Trainer Wesley Ward’s original thought after watching Kimari rally to a half-length victory, despite a bit of a slow start, over Frank’s Rockette in the Grade 2 Honorable Miss here last week was to put her on a path that would lead to the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Keeneland on Nov. 5.
But after assessing the situation a bit further, Ward may have more ambitious plans on Breeders’ Cup weekend for the daughter of Munnings, who far and away earned a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 105 for her performance in the six-furlong Honorable Miss.
Kentucky Downs officials announced Tuesday that three more stakes at its upcoming meet will offer purses of as much as $1 million if a Grade 1 or Group 1 winner is a starter in those races.
Three races at the seven-day meet next month at the turf-only track in south-central Kentucky already are worth $1 million, including substantial bonuses from the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund.
In a surprise move, jockey Jose Ortiz has parted ways with his longtime agent Jimmy Riccio Jr. and has hired Steve Rushing to be his new agent effective Aug. 14, Ortiz said Tuesday. Rushing also represents Ortiz’s brother, Irad Ortiz Jr.
Jose Ortiz and Riccio were together for 9 1/2 years and in 2017 Ortiz won the Eclipse Award as North America’s outstanding jockey. This year, Ortiz currently ranks fourth nationally in earnings with $13,632,382 and ninth in wins with 135, including the Preakness stakes on Early Voting.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The imposing presence of Matareya will keep the starting lineup for the Grade 1 Test to a minimum, although it has not deterred the connections of the Santa Anita-based Elm Drive from sending their filly east to take on the Acorn winner in the prestigious seven-furlong fixture for 3-year-old fillies here Saturday.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Bleecker Street, among the leaders of the filly and mare turf division, is sidelined indefinitely with a physical issue, trainer Chad Brown said Monday.
Brown said Bleecker Street did not come out of her third-place finish in the Grade 1 Diana well and has been sent to Kentucky to be evaluated.
“She’s going to be out of training for the time being,” Brown said.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Corniche, last year’s champion 2-year-old colt, may have had an excuse for his last-place finish in his 3-year-old debut in Sunday’s Grade 2 Amsterdam Stakes at Saratoga.
Trainer Todd Pletcher said Monday morning that Corniche shed the frog on his right front foot. The frog, triangular in shape, is the bottom part of the foot and acts like a shock absorber.
