Forbidden Kingdom, a two-time Grade 2 winner earlier this year who was sidelined in the spring with illness, worked three furlongs in 36.40 seconds at Del Mar on Friday for an autumn campaign.
“It was a nice work to get started,” trainer Richard Mandella said.
Mandella said he has tentatively scheduled a start for Forbidden Kingdom in the Grade 2 Santa Anita Sprint Championship at six furlongs on Oct. 1, which would be the colt’s first race in nearly six months.
Il Bellator has not raced since prevailing in a three-horse photo in the California Derby at Golden Gate Fields on April 30.
As the months have passed, the win has looked more attractive. Il Bellator finished a neck in front of Cabo Spirit, who was third in the California Derby and won the Grade 3 La Jolla Handicap at Del Mar on Aug. 7.
Il Bellator was sidelined with illness later in the spring, and will return to racing in Saturday’s $75,000 Robert Dupret Derby at 1 1/16 miles on turf at the Sonoma County Fair in Santa Rosa.
War At Sea missed a start in the Grade 3 La Jolla Handicap at Del Mar on Aug. 7 because of a bruised foot, but has recovered well enough for the Grade 2 Del Mar Derby on Sept. 3 to remain a realistic goal, trainer Ron Ellis said on Friday.
War At Sea worked a half-mile in 48.40 seconds at Del Mar on Friday, his first major exercise since he worked six furlongs on turf in 1:16.20 on July 31. The bruised foot was detected after the July 31 workout. War At Sea stumbled during the workout, which led to a battery of precautionary tests.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Willie Armata’s first experience with Queen’s Plate glory had a bit of a hollow feeling to it when his father, Vito, won the $1 million event with 82-1 shot T J’s Lucky Moon 20 years ago.
“When my dad won the Plate in 2002, we had five running that day and I had to run the horse in the race before and watch the Plate from the track kitchen,” Armata recalled. “We got lucky.”
DEL MAR, Calif. – Spending $1.75 million for a 2-year-old just might be the Ultimate Gamble for Jed and Tim Cohen, who decided to throw in for that amount for a Medaglia d’Oro colt who debuts Saturday in race 7 at Del Mar for trainer Mark Glatt.
Ultimate Gamble is out of the Ghostzapper mare Eltimaas, making him a half-brother to Drefong, who won the 2016 Breeders’ Cup Sprint and, subsequently, that year’s Eclipse Award as champion male sprinter.
DEL MAR, Calif. -- Jockey Tyler Baze will have to meet with Del Mar’s stewards before being permitted to ride after failing to show up for his scheduled mounts Thursday.
Baze did not call the stewards prior to being removed from his mounts. Stewards finally heard from Baze via telephone after race 7 on the eight-race card. A meeting is scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday for Baze to explain his absence.
Baze was “a no-show,” steward Kim Sawyer said after Thursday’s day’s first race, in which Baze was replaced on his scheduled mount by Tiago Pereira.
With five wins from his first 18 runners, trainer Andy Mathis has had a sharp start to the Del Mar summer meeting.
“Should I stop and leave right now?” Mathis said on Thursday.
Mathis, 43, spends most of the year in Northern California, but he is staying at Del Mar through the end of the meeting on Sept. 11.
“This is a business when you can go cold or hot and go back and forth,” he said. “When I was looking before the meeting, I didn’t really see a big bang like that coming. It’s a good place to get hot.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The owner, Hall of Fame football coach Bill Parcells, was sick. The trainer, Jeremiah Englehart, was at Citi Field with friends and family watching the Mets. Their horse Maple Leaf Mel made them miss not being at Saratoga.
Maple Leaf Mel made quite the debut Wednesday at Saratoga, cruising to a front-running five-length victory under Joel Rosario. The 2-year-old New York-bred daughter of Cross Traffic ran six furlongs in 1:11.48 and earned an 81 Beyer Speed Figure.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Damon’s Mound had not yet made it back to the winner’s circle following his blowout debut win on July 2 at Churchill Downs, when trainer Michelle Lovell’s phone started to blow up.
The thrill of victory soon dissipated.
“As soon as I turned around, I got a text message from a big agent,” Lovell recalled Thursday morning. “I said ‘I’m not going to be able to enjoy this race because I’m not going train him for his next win.’ It was a roller-coaster ride for about five minutes. Then the text messages kept coming.”
The Coolmore connections of M.V. Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith have purchased an interest in the unbeaten Gulfport, who goes for his third straight victory in Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Saratoga Special.
Gulfport’s owners include Corinne and William Heiligbrodt, Jackport Farm and Whispering Oaks. Gulfport, trained by Steve Asmussen, was a $275,000 purchase at the Fasig-Tipton summer yearling sale in July 2021.
At the conclusion of his racing career, Gulfport will join his sire, Uncle Mo, as a stallion at Coolmore America.
