SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer Eddie Barker wasn’t surprised Meese Rocks won Monday’s $70,000 Union Avenue Stakes. He was surprised how she did it.
After winning a three-ply speed battle, Meese Rocks took command leaving the five-sixteenths pole, then splashed her way through the sloppy Saratoga stretch en route to a 6 1/4-length victory over Gold for the Queen. It was a neck back to City Broad in third.
Trainer Jim Meyaard isn’t sure where No Hesitation will make his next start following his win over Kara’s Orientation in the Grade 3 Canadian Derby at Northlands Park last Saturday.
“We’ll mull it over this week and make a decision soon,” said Meyaard. “He appears to have come out of the race in excellent shape.”
Meyaard mentioned the Grade 3 British Columbia Derby at Hastings on Sept. 26 as a possibility.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Although Rail Trip has resumed training following a minor foot issue, he most likely won’t make the $750,000 Woodward Stakes here on Sept. 4, trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. said Monday.
“I don’t see the Woodward, but miracles do happen,” said Dutrow, who said he is really targeting the $750,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont on Oct. 2 for Rail Trip.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Dominic Galluscio swung for the fences when he put Stormy’s Majesty in the Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes four weeks ago. The colt barely fouled the ball off while finishing last, beaten 18 1/4 lengths by A Little Warm.
Wednesday, Stormy’s Majesty gets back in the game at a more suitable level when he returns to New York-bred company in the $100,000 Albany Stakes at Saratoga. The Albany, run at 1 18 miles, drew a field of six.
DEL MAR, Calif. – The commotion started early on the afternoon of July 30, and before long a half-dozen horses in trainer Carla Gaines’s barn at Del Mar were stomping around their stalls.
Temple City was the cause of it all. The 5-year-old horse had figured out he was going to race in a few hours, and was taking his excitement out on a beach ball tethered to the ceiling of his stall. He wanted his neighbors to be aware of it.
“He was like a little kid going, ‘Let’s go. Let’s go,’ ” Gaines said.
Trainers Robertino Diodoro and Jim Meyaard, first and second in the trainers standings at Northlands Park, will lock heads in Wednesday’s feature The second-level allowance race for 3-year-olds and up drew nine horses and goes as race 7 on the eight-race card that begins at 6 p.m.
DEL MAR, Calif. - She has won graded stakes at Keeneland, Hollywood Park, and Del Mar this year, and lost Grade 1 races at Santa Anita and Churchill Downs by just a nose. The turf course at Keeneland is the next target for the Evening Jewel, who won her fourth stakes of 2010 in Saturday’s Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks.
Evening Jewel will be pointed for the $400,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup over 1 1/8 miles on turf on Oct. 16, trainer Jim Cassidy said over the weekend. It may be dangerous to bet against her.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Decisions, decisions. Forty-eight hours before entries were due and post positions drawn, the connections of several horses still had yet to decide whether to put their 3-year-old in Saturday’s $1 million Travers Stakes at Saratoga.
The connections of Haskell runner-up Trappe Shot, Jim Dandy runner-up Miner’s Reserve, the undefeated Trickmeister, and Withers winner Afleet Again were all still on the fence Monday morning about whether to run in the Travers.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Deputy Minister Stakes runner-up Arepeatee should be favored over five other Ontario-sired runners Wednesday night at Woodbine in the sixth race, a six-furlong allowance for nonwinners of three. Arepeatee, a 3-year-old trained by Bob Tiller, had a busy 2-year-old season, during which he banked $71,234 in eight appearances. Aside from his maiden victory, the highlight of that campaign was his third-place finish in the Bull Page Stakes.
Trainer Chris Grove and apprentice jockey Forest Boyce finished atop the standings at Laurel Park’s 11-day summer meeting that ended Sunday.
Grove, 41, won with 9 of 16 starters at the mini-meet, including four consecutive winners on Aug. 14. He earned his first training title earlier this year at Laurel’s winter meet.
Hamilton Smith and Rodney Jenkins tied for second with five winners each.
Boyce, 25, who ended the Colonial Downs meet with victories on 13 of the last 17 days, retained her hot hand by riding 15 winners at Laurel, including five multiple-win days.