Charge It, the 23-length winner of the Grade 2 Dwyer Stakes at Belmont Park on July 2, picked up his preparations for the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers on Aug. 27 by working a half-mile in 50.12 seconds Saturday morning. Charge It went his opening quarter in 26.03 and galloped out five furlongs in 1:03.06 and six furlongs in 1:16.06.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer Todd Pletcher could run as many as three horses in next Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Whitney Stakes at Saratoga, and a week before the race, all three put in their final workouts over the main track.
Life Is Good, under exercise rider Amelia Green, put in his usual strong move, going four furlongs in 48.25 seconds, followed by a stellar gallop-out. Life Is Good went out five furlongs in 1:00.94, six furlongs in 1:13.15 and seven furlongs in 1:26.47.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Going a mile and one-eighth around two turns against older, open-company allowance horses wasn’t exactly what trainer David Donk had in mind for the third career start of his undefeated New York-bred filly Fingal’s Cave.
Shedaresthedevil is the top nominee for the top stakes next week at Del Mar, where the three-time Grade 1 winner will seek her second consecutive victory in the Grade 1 Clement L. Hirsch.
The $400,000 Hirsch, a mile and one-sixteenth on dirt Aug. 6, is a Win and You’re In for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff and one of five Del Mar stakes Friday through Sunday, Aug. 5-7. Nominations for the five stakes closed this week. Below are short previews.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Overshadowed by the euphoria of Classic Causeway’s upset victory in the Grade 1 Belmont Derby on July 9, was the disappointing ninth-place finish in the same race of stablemate Tiz the Bomb, who was beaten 13 1/2 lengths as the 5-1 third choice in the 12-horse field.
Much was expected from Tiz the Bomb since he was previously a stakes winner on turf and finished second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf last November at Del Mar.
Ken McPeek, the trainer of Tiz the Bomb, said that the horse did not ship well from Kentucky to New York.
This weekend, New Mexico-based trainer Todd Fincher can be found in several places, such as airports throughout the Southwest, the paddock at Del Mar and Ruidoso Downs, and driving the highways leading to and from Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico.
Fincher’s racing week began in the best place possible, the winner’s circle at Del Mar on Thursday after an impressive win by Slammed in an allowance race for fillies and mares.
SARATOA SPRINGS, N.Y. – An emotional George Weaver reported Thursday that his wife, Cindy Hutter, has started to show some progress in her long battle to recover from a significant brain injury suffered in a riding mishap on the Oklahoma training track at Saratoga on July 3.
Hutter is currently recuperating at the Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston, where she was transferred from Albany Medical Center a little over a week ago.
