Tyler’s Tribe, who owns three of the top Beyer Speed Figures among 2-year-olds in 2022, will have his final prep for the Breeders’ Cup at his home track of Prairie Meadows, trainer Tim Martin said Tuesday.
Tyler’s Tribe is being pointed for the $100,000 Iowa Cradle, a six-furlong race for colts and geldings bred in Iowa. It is part of the Iowa Classics card Oct. 1.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- Domestic Spending, the multiple Grade 1 winner who was scratched from last November’s Breeders’ Cup Turf with a suspensory issue, had his first work in exactly 10 months Monday, going three furlongs in 39.04 seconds over the Oklahoma training track in Saratoga.
It was Domestic Spending’s first work since last Oct. 29 at Belmont Park when he had a final move before shipping to Southern California, where he was the favorite for the Breeders’ Cup Turf, but scratched two days before the race due to a suspensory ligament issue.
Dandy Warhol will have a new rider, race at a new distance, and have a tougher assignment when he starts in Saturday’s Grade 2 Del Mar Derby at 1 1/8 miles on turf.
There are indications that the lightly raced Irish-bred gelding can adapt and be a factor in the $300,000 Del Mar Derby, the track’s top summertime race for 3-year-olds.
Flavien Prat, former leading rider in Southern California and now based in New York, will ride Dandy Warhol for the first time, replacing Umberto Rispoli, who rides top contender Balnikhov.
It’s that time of year again.
Time for horsemen and fans alike to revisit the unique aspects of a racetrack plunked down in the middle of nowhere, one providing a welcome respite from the day-to-day grind of American racing.
Time, especially, for jaw-drops and double-takes when a horseplayer sees the purses at Kentucky Downs, where the 2022 meet begins Thursday with a 10-race program comprised mostly of full fields.
Besides the $400,000 Tapit on the opening-day card Thursday at Kentucky Downs, a $180,000 allowance sprint that drew an overflow field of fillies and mares (race 5) is among the many excellent supporting events.
The top two trainers in track history, Mike Maker (67 wins) and Wesley Ward (42), have top contenders in Amalfi Princess and Red Ghost, respectively. Those 4-year-old fillies are among a well-matched group that also includes Social Chatter, Saranya, and a second Maker filly, Phantom Vision, as major players.
Commuting two hours each way on Interstate 65 isn’t much fun, but it should be far simpler than all the traveling Florent Geroux has done in recent months.
Geroux, who intends to ride the entire seven-day meet at Kentucky Downs, operated out of Southern California for five hectic weeks, ending Aug. 26, while interrupting his stay at Del Mar with long plane rides to and from racetracks back East.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Trainer Ruben Alvarado was fined $1,000 by Del Mar stewards on Sunday for failing to correctly designate that Anmer Hall had been gelded before a scheduled start June 19 at Santa Anita.
Anmer Hall was in the receiving barn in advance of that day’s eighth race when racing officials notified track stewards that the 3-year-old was a gelding. Anmer Hall was not permitted to run.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Procrastination, second in the Grade 2 Sorrento Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Del Mar, has been sidelined.
Trainer Michael McCarthy said Sunday that Procrastination “will get a fall break.”
McCarthy did not describe why Procrastination is out of training, but said the situation was “nothing too serious” and that the filly will return to training for the Santa Anita winter meeting.
DEL MAR, Calif. – An emotional Vince DeGregory was honored by more than 60 members of the Del Mar backstretch community on Sunday morning, a day before the legendary jockey agent’s 90th birthday.
DeGregory was visibly touched by the brief ceremony, held under palm trees adjacent to the backstretch racing office.
“I’ve been one of the lucky ones in the game,” he told the group of well-wishers. “There’s nothing like being with great people who give their lives to the horses.
“I’m happy to be part of the game. I don’t deserve all the accolades.”
DEL MAR, Calif. – Jockey Emily Ellingwood lost her apprentice status Saturday with a two-win day at Del Mar.
Sunday, Ellingwood turned 28.
Ellingwood’s apprentice term ended when she won the 40th race of her career aboard Damazio ($10.20) in the sixth race, the second of her two wins Saturday. Through Sunday, Ellingwood had six wins at the current Del Mar meeting.
“I’m excited to be a journeywoman,” Ellingwood said on Saturday afternoon. “My career is just beginning.”
Ellingwood had one mount on Sunday, finishing 10th on 11-1 Kuora in the ninth race.
