SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – This is the kind of summer it’s been at Saratoga for jockey Luis Saez: On Aug. 13, he was named on two first-time starters in a New York-bred maiden race. His first call was Makin My Move, who was three deep on the also-eligible list. When she didn’t get into the race, Saez rode his second call, Sue Ellen Mishkin, to a 7 1/4-length victory.
A week later, when the maiden race was offered again, Saez rode Makin My Move to a 12 1/2-length debut victory.
In early spring, after Going Global had won two stakes in her first two starts in the country, trainer Phil D’Amato set a summer goal of winning the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks with the Irish-bred filly.
Going Global won her fifth stakes of the year as the 7-5 favorite in the $302,000 Del Mar Oaks on Saturday, closing from fifth of nine to win by a length.
The Grade 3 Shared Belief Stakes at Del Mar was run in early August last year as a prep for a Kentucky Derby postponed from May to September because of the pandemic.
This summer, the $100,000 Shared Belief Stakes at a mile is back in its familiar position in late August, and once again could be in the national spotlight for a significantly different reason.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – You can never have too many good 2-year-olds in the barn. Just ask Todd Pletcher, who trains the likely favorite for the Grade 1 Hopeful in the undefeated Wit, and this past weekend sent out three more juveniles to win their maiden at first asking, including the ultra-impressive My Prankster.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Jockeys Tyler Baze, Emily Ellingwood, Cesar Ortega, and Tiago Pereira were briefly hospitalized Sunday after escaping serious injuries in a frightening seven-horse spill in Sunday’s seventh race at Del Mar.
Baze and Ortega have chosen to rest in coming days and weeks, their agents said Monday. Pereira was scheduled to meet with a doctor Monday or Tuesday for further examination of a hip.
None of the horses involved in the incident appeared to suffer injuries, according to a track official.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Record-breaking handle on Saturday’s Pacific Classic program, combined with strong business in recent weeks, has led Del Mar officials to raise expectations for total handle at the current summer meeting and hint that a purse increase is possible for the fall Del Mar meet and next year’s summer meet.
Saturday’s 11-race program had an all-sources handle of $36,024,030, a track record for a non-Breeders’ Cup program. The previous mark of $25.8 million for a non-Breeders’ Cup day was set on Pacific Classic Day in 2018.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Search Results, the Grade 1 Acorn winner and Kentucky Oaks runner-up, will be put away for the remainder of the year and be pointed to a 4-year-old campaign in 2022, trainer Chad Brown said over the weekend.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Though trainer Chad Brown participated in both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness this spring, an argument could be made that the best 3-year-old in his barn was still a maiden when those races were being run.
An injury suffered last fall prevented Miles D from making it onto the Triple Crown trail. But the son of Curlin has shown enough in just two starts this year for Brown to take a swing at Saratoga’s biggest prize, Saturday’s Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers Stakes.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Mike Trombetta probably made a wise decision bypassing Saturday’s Grade 3 Seaway with last year’s Canadian champion older female Souper Escape, in which Boardroom put up a big 98 Beyer Speed Figure in a dominant 4 1/2-length score.
Souper Escape won the Grade 3 Trillium for the second straight year in her season debut June 26. Instead of trying to win the Seaway for the second year in a row with her, Trombetta felt it would be more prudent to wait for the $100,000 Belle Mahone Stakes going 1 1/16 miles here Sept. 12.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Jockeys Tyler Baze, Emily Ellingwood, Cesar Ortega, and Tiago Pereira were taken to a local hospital for precautionary observations after a frightening seven-horse spill in Sunday’s seventh race at Del Mar.
None of the horses involved in the incident appeared to suffer injuries, according to a track official.
