A potential odds-on favorite and a gaggle from the deepest turf stable in California are among the nominees to opening-week stakes at Del Mar, where four of the five stakes July 22-24 are on grass. Nominations that closed Thursday include one of the country’s top turf milers in Smooth Like Strait, and 19 turf specialists trained by Phil D’Amato.
The Grade 3, $400,000 Oklahoma Derby on Sept. 25 and the $400,000 Springboard Mile on Dec. 17 will be the co-richest races during the Remington Park meet that opens next month, the Oklahoma City track announced Friday.
Remington released its stakes schedule for the 67-date meet that runs from Aug. 19 to Dec. 17. There are 34 stakes for the new season worth a total of more than $3.5 million.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The 3-year-olds Kuchar and Montebello were among four horses that were turned over to trainer Todd Pletcher following their purchases at Monday’s Fasig-Tipton Horses of All Ages Sale in Lexington, Ky.
The horses were bought by agent Steve Young on behalf of owners Larry Sarf, who will race under LSU Stables, and Louis Lazzinnaro.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Life Is Good, recent winner of the Grade 2 John Nerud Stakes at Belmont, worked a half-mile in 49.49 seconds over Saratoga’s main track Friday as he ramps up preparation for a start in the Grade 1, $1 million Whitney Invitational here on Aug. 6.
Last year, when he first got Life Is Good in his barn, trainer Todd Pletcher would train the horse at 5:30 a.m. on the Oklahoma training track. Friday was Life Is Good’s first work on the main track.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The 3-year-old Ethereal Road was working alongside the unraced 2-year-old Major Blue when the pair went into the mist that enveloped the Oklahoma training track Friday morning in Saratoga. Only Major Blue came out of the mist to finish the work.
Ethereal Road, the Sir Barton Stakes winner, bolted around the far turn and was pulled up by jockey Luis Saez. Saez never got off the horse and walked Ethereal Road back to the barn.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Secret Oath, the Kentucky Oaks winner who finished fourth in the Preakness, worked five furlongs in 1:00.01 Friday morning over the Oklahoma training track, her final breeze before she runs in the Grade 1, $500,000 Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga on July 23.
With regular rider Luis Saez up, Secret Oath went in splits of 12.14 seconds, 23.39, 35.68, 47.87 and galloped out six furlongs in 1:14.10.
“I was really pleased with her, that was super,” said trainer D. Wayne Lukas. “I don’t think anybody will work any better than that.”
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – When Victor Cooley won the 1996 Queen’s Plate after taking the Marine Stakes four weeks earlier, it was thought to be a unique feat in an era where horses ran much more frequently than that.
Wando won the 2003 Plate in a romp, five weeks after winning the Grade 3 Marine. This year’s Marine victor, Rondure, will try to win the 1 1/4-mile test for Canadian-bred 3-year-olds off a seven-week absence on Aug. 21 and might be favored to turn the trick.
Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas, canceled Thursday night’s card after a meeting with jockeys in which the riders wanted assurance they would be able to see a doctor or specialist in the event of an injury.
Their concerns came about after jockey Carlos Montalvo was unable to see doctors or secure an appointment with a specialist in the wake of a July 4 spill in which his agent said he sustained facial fractures.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- D. Wayne Lukas drove into the stable gate on the Oklahoma training track around 4 a.m. Thursday and the Hall of Fame trainer was taken aback by how many parked cars he passed on Nelson Avenue.
“I said to the guard, ‘What the hell is this?” Lukas said. “He said, ‘They were lined up all night waiting for the gate to open up and get a picnic table.’ “
It was just a reminder to the 86-year-old Lukas -- who was making his return to Saratoga after a two-year hiatus -- the enthusiasm there is for Saratoga.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - A victory by Winter Son ($89) in race 6 Thursday at Saratoga helped trigger a $120,364 pick-six carryover into Friday’s card.
Winter Son, the longest shot in an 11-horse field, won the second leg of a pick-six sequence that otherwise had fairly logical winners including Majority Partner ($5.30), Tarabi ($4.40), Canisy ($9.30), Just Cindy ($6.20), and Abuse of Power ($6.40).
The pick six Friday begins with race 5 (3:21 p.m.) and includes four turf races and two stakes - the $150,000 Coronation Cup and the Grade 3, $175,000 Forbidden Apple.
