SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – A year ago at this time, few people outside of upstate New York had ever heard of Tim Snyder, a broke horseman with no horses who was commuting over 100 miles roundtrip to make roughly $50 a day.
This summer at Saratoga, Snyder’s got people offering him six-figures for a horse, buying him lobsters at Siro’s, and wanting to tell his life story in books, television, and movies.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The racing office had a difficult time filling some stakes races at the Saratoga meet. The Riskaverse was not among them.
With 23 entries for the turf – and four more for the dirt – the Riskaverse, for 3-year-old fillies at a mile on the inner turf, was split into two wildly competitive divisions and will be run as the fourth and ninth races on Thursday’s 10-race card. Each division of the Riskaverse will be worth $70,000 and will be limited to 10 starters.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Bob Baffert was in Saratoga on Saturday when Richard’s Kid won the Pacific Classic and El Brujo the Pat O’Brien, but he was back on the scene Tuesday morning, making plans for those horses and several others in his barn.
Baffert said Richard’s Kid, who won the Pacific Classic for the second straight year, would likely make his next start in the Goodwood Stakes, now scheduled to be run this year at Hollywood Park.
DEL MAR, Calif. - John Sadler was the leading trainer at Del Mar the past two seasons, and though he is a longshot to catch Doug O’Neill before the meet ends next Wednesday, Sadler has a chance to go out on a very high note with big chances in important stakes this weekend, most notably the unbeaten Twirling Candy in the Grade 2, $300,000 Del Mar Derby on Sunday.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Separate Forest is fast. Real fast. So fast that trainer Richard Mandella was concerned that trying to go six furlongs on Polytrack might be too challenging for her debut. So he set about trying to find a five-furlong turf sprint for maidens earlier this meet at Del Mar, and when it came up, he entered her.
The race did not fill.
So Mandella, having a horse sitting on ready, sent Separate Forest up north to Santa Rosa, not the usual method of operation for him. Even though the race was on dirt, the distance, 5 1/2 furlongs, was suitable.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – It is tough to separate the seven horses entered in a $25,000 claiming race that will serve as Thursday’s feature at Hastings. See Eye to Eye could end up being the lukewarm favorite in the 1 1/16-mile race for fillies and mares, which goes as race 7 on the eight-race card which begins at 6:40 p.m.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Mine That Bird, the 2009 Kentucky Derby winner, continues to work sharply in preparation for Saturday’s Grade 1 Woodward Stakes, drilling five furlongs in 1:00.25 over the Oklahoma training track on Monday. Saratoga clockers caught his first three furlongs in 36.94 seconds and his last quarter in 23.31 under jockey Rajiv Maragh.
He worked in blinkers for the second straight week. He has trained in blinkers since finishing fifth in the Whitney.
“I loved the way he worked today,” trainer D. Wayne Lukas said.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Regal Ransom and Cool Coal Man head a stakes-caliber field entered in a $62,000 allowance race Wednesday at Saratoga.
Regal Ransom may now be best known as the last horse to beat Blame, something he did in last September’s Grade 2 Super Derby. Blame has not lost since, winning five in a row, including the Grade 1 Whitney here Aug. 7.
Regal Ransom ended his 3-year-old season with an eighth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. He kicked off his 4-year-old campaign with a fourth-place finish in the Grade 2 Suburban at Belmont in July.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Beale Street could be dangerous as the lone speed in a $25,000 claiming race that will serve as the feature race at Hastings on Wednesday.
The 1 1/8-mile race for 3-year-olds and up drew six horses and goes as race 3 on the eight-race card that begins at 6:40 p.m.
All but one of the six horses entered, Soldiers Return, met in a $35,000 optional race won by Three Wood Aug. 7.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Still stung by her loss in Sunday’s Grade 1 Personal Ensign Stakes, the connections of Rachel Alexandra were not prepared on Monday to look ahead to the racing future of the reigning Horse of the Year.
“We all have to take a step back and see how things go,” said Barbara Banke, the wife of Jess Jackson, the primary owner of Rachel Alexandra. “You bet we’ll be thinking about what we should do. We want to do what’s best for her, so we’ll figure it out.”
