ELMONT, N.Y. – That Joseph O’Brien is represented in one of the Grade 1 turf stakes for 3-year-olds to be run at Belmont Park this Saturday is no surprise. That O’Brien plans to base a small string of horses at Saratoga this summer is certainly a pleasant one.
O’Brien, based in Ireland, said Sunday he will have six stalls in Saratoga this summer, marking the first time he will have an extended presence at a North American track.
The 3-year-old filly Desert Dawn, third in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks in May and in the Grade 2 Summertime Oaks on June 12, will have her debut against older fillies and mares in the Grade 1 Clement Hirsch Stakes at Del Mar on Aug. 6, trainer Phil D’Amato said on Sunday.
The $400,000 Hirsch is run at 1 1/16 miles. The winner receives a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Keeneland on Nov. 5.
Cindy Hutter, an exercise rider and assistant trainer to her husband, George Weaver, was listed in stable condition Sunday afternoon at Albany Medical Center after being injured in a training incident Sunday morning in Saratoga, according to the New York Racing Association.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The first Sunday of July at Santa Anita was comeback day for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, his return to daily training after a highly publicized 90-day suspension for a medication violation found in a post-race test taken from 2021 Kentucky Derby first-place finisher Medina Spirit.
Baffert vehemently fought the case with regulators and in court before a Kentucky Court of Appeals declined to issue an emergency injunction in early April that would have prevented the suspension from starting. The suspension began April 4 and ended Saturday.
ELMONT, N.Y. – The two marquee races of every Saratoga meet are the Travers and Whitney Stakes. It became abundantly clear on Saturday that trainer Todd Pletcher will have top-flight contenders in both.
Charge It took a big step toward being mentioned among the elite of the 3-year-old division with a demonstrative 23-length victory in the Grade 3, $250,000 Dwyer Stakes. He ran a mile in 1:34.67 and earned a 111 Beyer Speed Figure, the highest figure earned by any 3-year-old in 2022.
Warrant will start as the 121-pound highweight in the Grade 3, $300,000 Cornhusker Handicap next Saturday night, July 9, at Prairie Meadows. He drew post 5 in the field of six older horses when entries were taken Saturday.
The Cornhusker is a 1 1/8-mile race that anchors the Iowa Racing Festival of Racing. The series features four stakes Friday night and another four on the Saturday card that includes the $250,000 Iowa Derby that drew 10 and the Grade 3, $225,000 Iowa Oaks. First post for each card is 6 p.m. Central.
CYPRESS, Calif. - The 7,732nd winner of Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Hollendorfer’s career occurred when the juvenile first-time starter Straighten Up led throughout a maiden special weight race for California-breds at Los Alamitos late Friday afternoon.
For the 76-year-old Hollendorfer, the third-leading all-time trainer by wins in North America, Straighten Up was his 24th win of the year, and first with a Thoroughbred in Southern California since Dr. Troutman won a $10,000 claimer at Los Alamitos last December.
Quite a lot has changed since then.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Mo Donegal, the Belmont Stakes winner and among the leaders of a wide-open 3-year-old male division, will likely miss the remainder of the year with bone bruising, his connections said Saturday.
A press release issued Saturday afternoon by his co-owners, Donegal Racing and Mike Repole, said Mo Donegal would be taken out of training for 60 days and be reevaluated thereafter. Trainer Todd Pletcher said Mo Donegal would not be back in time to make any major races this year, including the Breeders’ Cup Classic in November at Keeneland.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Travel Column made a smashing 4-year-old debut as an easy winner of a seven-furlong allowance Wednesday at Churchill in her first race since being turned over to Bill Mott. Owned by the OXO Equine of Larry Best, the gray Frosted filly got an 89 Beyer in her first start in more than a year.
OXO racing manager Don Chatlos said Travel Column will return to Saratoga, where she had prepped for her comeback, with the Aug. 27 Ballerina being a possible target. Travel Column was a two-time Grade 2 winner when previously trained by Brad Cox.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Letruska, the reigning champion in the filly-mare dirt division, breezed a half-mile Friday in 48 seconds over a fast track at Churchill in her first work since she was virtually eased as the odds-on favorite in the June 11 Ogden Phipps at Belmont.
Trainer Fausto Gutierrez said the 6-year-old mare will remain at Churchill in the coming weeks prior to making her next start in the Aug. 27 Personal Ensign at Saratoga. “She is doing good,” said Gutierrez.
Happy Jack to Jerkens
