There Goes Harvard, winner of the Grade 1 Hollywood Gold Cup at Santa Anita in May, is out of training because of illness and unlikely to race again this year.
Trainer Michael McCarthy said on Friday that There Goes Harvard has been sidelined since he finished last of nine in the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap on July 30.
“He got real sick,” McCarthy said. “He’s not doing anything right now. He’s getting better.”
Prior to Thursday, trainer Jonathan Wong had recorded seven three-win days this year – five times at Golden Gate and once at Santa Rosa and Turf Paradise.
On Thursday, Wong won three races with as many starters at Del Mar. Wong has won eight races at the summer meeting, leaving him tied for seventh in the standings, five behind leader Phil D’Amato.
“It’s an amazing feeling,” he said. “Unbelievable.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Jockey John Velazquez has reached many milestones in his career, perhaps none as meaningful to the Hall of Fame rider as the one he achieved Thursday by guiding Precursory to victory in the eighth race for his 1,000th lifetime win at Saratoga.
“Of all the milestones, this is one of the best ones for me,” said Velazquez, who is 50. “I came here as an 18 year old with Angel Cordero [Jr.], who had been the leading rider at Saratoga for so many years, and he kept trying to put it in my head how special a place it was.”
Owner Susan Osborne, who won the 2016 Santa Anita Handicap with Melatonin and the 2008 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint with Desert Code, died earlier this month of age-related infirmities at her home in Glendale, Calif., trainer David Hofmans said earlier this week.
Osborne was 81.
Osborne, who raced under the stable name Tarabilla Farm, had a decades-long involvement in Southern California racing, first with trainer Riley Cofer and later with Hofmans.
Tizamagician was second in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar in 2021, but will miss that race on Sept. 3 in favor of a first start in a graded stakes on turf in the Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap the same day.
Tizamagician worked seven furlongs on turf in 1:29.40 at Del Mar on Thursday, an exercise that convinced trainer Richard Mandella to try the $300,000 Del Mar Handicap at 1 3/8 miles.
“He looked nice,” Mandella said. “He handled it. I’m thinking we’ll try the turf.”
There were more than 21 lengths between Slammed and Dance to the Music when they finished first and fifth in an allowance race for fillies and mares at six furlongs at Del Mar on July 28.
Slammed led throughout to win by 5 1/4 lengths. Dance to the Music was never a factor after a poor start.
Despite the comprehensive loss, Dance to the Music will face Slammed and an expected group of four other fillies and mares in Sunday’s Grade 3 Rancho Bernardo Handicap at 6 1/2 furlongs at Del Mar.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Irad Ortiz Jr., the leading rider at the Saratoga meet, is one of four jockeys who will be serving suspensions next week for careless riding infractions earlier in the meet.
Ortiz, was cited by the stewards for his ride aboard Nabokov, who finished fifth in the eighth race on Aug. 18. In that race, Ortiz allowed his mount to come over in midstretch and bump with Winit, who finished a head behind Nabokov in sixth. Though there was no inquiry posted or jockey’s objection lodged, the stewards disqualified Nabokov from fifth and placed him sixth.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Aidan O’Brien, still in search of his first win at Saratoga, will send out Breeders’ Cup Turf runner-up Broome against nine others in Saturday’s Grade 1, $750,000 Sword Dancer, one of four Grade 1 stakes on the undercard of the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers Stakes.
O’Brien, one of the most accomplished trainers in the world, is 0 for 11 in Saratoga with Japan’s neck loss to Gufo in last year’s Sword Dancer among his best finishes.
A $100,000 stakes for turf sprinters will be run for the first time at the Del Mar autumn meeting that has an emphasis on grass stakes and runs from Nov. 11 to Dec. 4.
The track has scheduled 15 stakes for the four-week season, with 10 of those races on turf.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Kevin Attard said the popular Queen’s Plate winner Moira is unlikely to contest the second leg of the Canadian Triple Crown on Sept. 13, the $400,000 Prince of Wales Stakes on the dirt at Fort Erie.
Moira became the 38th filly to win the Queen’s Plate on Sunday, doing so impressively after an eye-catching wide move on the far turn. She won going away by seven lengths while earning a 97 Beyer Speed Figure in the 1 1/4-mile event on the synthetic Tapeta surface at Woodbine.
