SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - That was brutal!
Trainer Bobby Frankel wasn't referring to the sudden showers and bolts of lightning that hovered over the track as the field left the starting gate for Saturday's $250,000 Go for Wand Handicap at Saratoga. He was talking about the nightmarish trip his Ginger Punch endured before asserting her class and superiority to post a nerve-wracking 1 1/4-length victory over Copper State in the Grade 1 Go for Wand.
The Grade 1 Haskell Invitational Handicap on Aug. 3 at Monmouth Park - the next target for Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner Big Brown - will be televised live on ESPN Classic and ESPN News as well as TVG, the National Thoroughbred Racing Association announced.
DEL MAR, Calif. - There are two carryovers at Del Mar on Saturday - a massive pick six carryover of $540,093 and a $43,634 carryover in the Super High Five.
The $2 pick six covers the fifth through 10th races on a program that begins at 2 p.m. Pacific. The $1 Super High Five, which requires bettors to correctly select the first five finishers of the last race, will be run at approximately 6:35.
There are few scratches in the pick six. In the eighth race, Instant Action and Street Lights have been withdrawn from an allowance race at 6 1/2 furlongs.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Last summer, trainer Neil Howard brought a late-developing 3-year-old to Saratoga and nearly pulled the shocker of the meet when Grasshopper came within a half-length of Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense in the Travers.
This year, Howard has again brought a late-developing 3-year-old to Saratoga, and with no monster like Street Sense expected for the $1 million Travers on Aug. 23, perhaps Howard can do himself one better.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - In an eventful running of the Grade 2, $150,000 Lake George Stakes, My Princess Jess bulled her way through horses in midstretch and went on to a three-quarter-length victory over Alwajeeha in the first turf race of the meet at Saratoga.
It was two lengths back to Zee Zee in third. Receipt finished fourth with Stealin' Kisses and a troubled Mousse Au Chocolat finishing last as the favorite.
My Princess Jess covered the 1 1/16 miles in 1:44.00 and returned $6.10.
AUBURN, Wash. - Emerald Downs will present its first stakes doubleheader of the year on Sunday's Mile Preview Day program.
Six older fillies and mares be will auditioning for the Aug. 17 running of $100,000 Emerald Distaff in Sunday's race 8, the $50,000 Boeing Handicap at 1 1/16 miles.
FORT ERIE, Ontario - This weekend brings us to the midway point in the Fort Erie meet. Here is a recap of some of the highlights of the first half:
* Heavy rain has plagued the border oval over the last three months, but surprisingly the turf course has held up well, or at least it did until it was overwhelmed by downpours last weekend. Some races finally were taken off the grass, and the large, competitive fields that usually go in turf races were greatly reduced.
BOSSIER CITY, La. - Anticipation is building for next Saturday's Louisiana Champions Day, the Louisiana Downs annual tribute to horses bred in the Bayou State. Eight stakes totaling $750,000 will be offered, representing all divisions, from 2-year-olds to older grass performers.
"We have 15 more nominations this year over last," said Louisiana Downs racing secretary Doug Bredar. "We are very pleased."
Bredar said that this year's format will be a little different from past years. Noticeably absent will be the traditional four races for Louisiana-bred Quarter Horses.
Without an allowance or stakes race to highlight the day, Thursday's eight-race card at Arlington was largely forgettable. Forgettable, that is, except for the mutuel payoff fireworks that erupted in race 5.
Anchored by Purple Majesty winning the maiden $40,000 claiming turf race at 21-1, followed by 38-1 Fiesty Fitz, 14-1 Keep the Chief, and 19-1 Djeddah, the superfecta paid off to one winning ticket, a 10-cent ticket that returned $46,900.41.
The payoff was an Arlington record for a 10-cent superfecta wager, said Dave Zenner, senior communications manager at Arlington.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The connections of the majority of the entrants in an allowance race here Sunday were unpleasantly surprised when Sealy Hill, Canada's Horse of the Year in 2007, made an unexpected appearance.
The open one-mile turf allowance is billed as a prep for the $125,000 Victoriana, a 1 1/16-mile turf race for Ontario-sired fillies and mares here Aug. 17.
But, with the prep being open to all comers, trainer Mark Casse took advantage of the opportunity and put Sealy Hill's name in the entry box.