DEL MAR, Calif. - Princess Taylor reached the winner’s circle for the first time in nearly two years in Friday’s $84,775 TOC and CTT Handicap at Del Mar.
Sent off as a strong favorite following a third-place finish to Zenyatta in the Grade 1 Clement Hirsch Stakes here on Aug. 7, Princess Taylor ($3.20) caught pacesetter Gripsholm Castle in the final furlong and held off Catsalot to win by a half-length. Ridden by Victor Espinoza, Princess Taylor ran 1 3-8 miles on turf in 2:14.83.
Dan Illman and Mike Beer are joined by Harvey Pack to take a look at Saratoga's Saturday pick four. Stay tuned for new videos every Friday throughout the meet and find more in DRF's Saratoga section.
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - The ability to relax early enabled Get Stormy to kick home strong late as he scored a rather easy 2 3/4-length victory in Friday's Grade 2, $200,000 Bernard Baruch Handicap at Saratoga.
National Kid, who set the early pace, held second, one length ahead of Radical Sabbatical. It was another three lengths to Sudden War in fourth.
OCEANPORT, N.J. The unbeaten Vengeful Wildcat is on target for the Grade 3, $150,000 Sapling Stakes, one of the final graded events of Monmouth Park’s 2010 meet.
The summer meet ends Labor Day with a flurry of stakes on the final weekend.
The Sapling, the track’s top event for 2-year-olds, and the $100,000 Twin Lights Stakes top the card on Saturday, Sept. 4.
The Grade 3, $200,000 Red Bank at one mile on the turf and the $100,000 Icecapade for sprinters headline the Sunday card.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Fatal Bullet has had trouble mounting a consistent campaign this season.
On Sunday, Fatal Bullet will try his hand on the turf when he starts on that surface for the second time in his career in the Grade 2, $200,000 Play the King Stakes at seven furlongs.
“We would have liked to run him on the Polytrack, but there were no races anywhere for him,” said Reade Baker, who trains Fatal Bullet for the Bear Stable of Danny Dion.
“The program here is so pro-turf that we found it necessary to give him one more chance on the surface.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. − Blame wrapped up his noteworthy summer at Saratoga by breezing an easy four furlongs in 50.80 seconds under assistant trainer Randi Melton at the Oklahoma training center Friday.
Blame put his mark on the 2010 Saratoga meeting when he rallied through the final furlong under jockey Garrett Gomez to upset odds-on favorite Quality Road in the Grade 1 Whitney. The victory was the fifth in a row and seventh in the last eight starts for Blame, a 4-year-old son of Arch. Blame is trained by Al Stall Jr. and owned by Adele Dilschneider and Claiborne Farm.
Three-year-old Nebraska-breds take center stage at the Columbus Races with two divisions of the $15,000 Columbus Breeders’ Special. Both races will be contested at 6 1/2 furlongs and drew compact fields.
Bach’s Homebrew, seeking his fifth straight victory, should rule the prohibitive favorite in the colts and geldings division of the Breeders’ Special. Only six were nominated for the race, including his stablemate, Bingosablumin, who was second in the Van Berg Derby here last weekend.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Champ Pegasus has been the surprising colt in trainer Richard Mandella’s barn this year.
After a maiden win in April, and a second in the Grade 3 Sunset Handicap at Hollywood Park in July, Champ Pegasus will start in Sunday’s $200,000 Del Mar Handicap with a realistic chance of winning his first stakes.
“He’s really come along,” Mandella said. “I didn’t expect that much out of him.”
DEL MAR, Calif. – Blind Luck’s two trips across the United States this year have resulted in the two biggest wins of her career, and pushed her to the fore of the 3-year-old filly division.
Following her most recent win in the $500,000 Alabama Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 21, Blind Luck’s travels will continue in coming months.
Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer has two road trips planed for Blind Luck – a journey to Philadelphia Park for the $750,000 Fitz Dixon Cotillion Stakes for 3-year-old fillies on Oct. 2 and the Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic at Churchill Downs on Nov. 5.