SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Kelly Breen said there are no visits from a psychiatrist or any other changes in his plans for Firenze Fire in the wake of what transpired here Saturday in the Grade 1 Forego Stakes, when his horse reached over and savaged the pacesetting Yaupon in the closing stages of the race.
Firenze Fire, with Jose Ortiz aboard, finished second, beaten a head by the favored Yaupon, in a renewal of the Forego that racing fans will remember for years to come.
Gamine on Saturday won a Grade 1 race at Saratoga for the second straight summer and now will look toward winning the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint for the second straight year, but her path to the Nov. 6 race at Del Mar is yet to be determined, trainer Bob Baffert said Monday.
Gamine was scheduled to return to Del Mar from Saratoga on Tuesday, three days after capturing the Ballerina for the fifth Grade 1 victory of her 10-race career. Last year, Gamine won the Test at Saratoga, then ran in the postponed Kentucky Oaks before being freshened for the Breeders’ Cup.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Trainer Bob Baffert has two recent maiden race winners in Murray and Pinehurst bound for Monday’s Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity, a race he has won a record 14 times since 1996.
Baffert has another promising 2-year-old colt in Rockefeller, who won a maiden special weight in fine fashion on Saturday. Ridden by Abel Cedillo, Rockefeller dispute the early pace and pulled clear to win by 2 1/4 lengths as the 9-5 favorite. Rockefeller ran six furlongs in 1:11.18.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Jockey Tyler Baze, who escaped serious injury in a seven-horse spill at Del Mar on Aug. 22, does not plan to resume riding until the start of the Santa Anita autumn meeting on Oct. 1.
“I want to take it easy for a couple of weeks,” Baze said on Sunday. “I’ll be back at Santa Anita. I want to take care of my body.”
Baze was briefly hospitalized after the spill and released that evening. He has not ridden since, taking off the four-day racing week that ended on Sunday. He cited body soreness for the absence.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Dance to the Music has been a poised filly at Del Mar this summer, in the manner she won her debut in a maiden race on July 24 and her training over the last five weeks.
That’s the perspective of trainer Mark Glatt, who is hopeful Dance to the Music will leave Del Mar a Grade 1 stakes winner. Owned by Red Baron’s Barn and Rancho Temescal, Dance to the Music rates as a leading contender in Sunday’s $300,000 Del Mar Debutante at seven furlongs, the summer meeting’s top race for 2-year-old fillies.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Medina Spirit and Rock Your World on Monday both appeared to have emerged in good order from their pitched battle Sunday in the Shared Belief Stakes at Del Mar, and both have the same potential options for their next starts, either the Pennsylvania Derby against fellow 3-year-olds on Sept. 25 at Parx Racing or the Awesome Again against elders Oct. 2 at Santa Anita.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Jockey Kendrick Carmouche, who suffered a broken ankle in a riding mishap that occurred during the final race on Belmont Stakes Day, will return to the saddle next Monday at Parx Racing, according to his agent, Kevin Bubser.
While trainer Steve Asmussen figures out what to do next with Midnight Bourbon after the colt's game second in the Travers, he said Jackie’s Warrior is “likely” to make his next start in the Grade 2 Vosburgh Stakes at Belmont Park on Oct. 9 as his prep for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Del Mar on Nov. 6.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - All eyes were on 2-5 favorite Miss Speedy in her stakes debut in Saturday’s $250,000 Bison City at Woodbine, but it was another daughter of hot Ontario sire Souper Speedy, Il Malocchio, who stole the show in the 1 1/16-mile route for Canadian-bred 3-year-old fillies.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - There will be a pick-6 carryover of $161,541 entering Wednesday’s card at Saratoga after the wager went unhit Sunday.
The carryover was assured when Chulainn ($22.60) upset the finale under Joel Rosario for Graham Motion. Other winners in the sequence included Gerrymander ($22.20), Hail To ($43.40), Montauk Daddy ($7.30), Beau Liam ($2.80), and Sifting Sands (18.80).
