Goal Oriented, fourth in the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico on May 17 in his stakes debut, is on schedule for a start in the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park on July 19, trainer Bob Baffert said on Friday.
Goal Oriented worked five furlongs in a rapid 58.60 seconds under jockey Drayden Van Dyke at Santa Anita on Friday, the colt’s third workout of the month. Goal Oriented zipped through a half-mile in 47.20 seconds on June 13, and went a half-mile in 48.40 seconds last Saturday.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - The New York Racing Association and the New York State Gaming Commission announced Thursday that horses in Barn 66 at Saratoga were under a 14-day quarantine that began on Saturday, June 21. A suspected case of strangles was confirmed after a positive test was returned Wednesday night on a 2-year-old George Weaver trainee stabled in that barn.
Jockey Drayden Van Dyke will be suspended for two days on July 4 and 5 and fined $5,200 after dropping his appeal of more severe penalties issued last November for a whip violation in a winning ride aboard Soul of an Angel in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Del Mar.
The day after the win, Van Dyke was suspended three days and fined $15,600. He appealed the infraction but recently dropped the appeal, according to a ruling issued by Los Alamitos stewards last weekend.
Straight No Chaser, the champion sprinter of 2024, is nearing his first workout since an eighth-place finish in the Group 1 Golden Shaheen Sprint in Dubai in April, trainer Dan Blacker said on Thursday.
Blacker said it unclear whether Straight No Chaser will be ready for the next sprint stakes in Southern California, the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes at six furlongs at Del Mar on July 26.
Kopion, the nation’s leading female sprinter, worked six furlongs in 1:12.20 at Santa Anita on Thursday in preparation for the Grade 2 Great Lady M. Stakes at Los Alamitos on July 5.
Kopion worked alone in an training run that trainer Richard Mandella described as “nice stuff.”
“I couldn’t be happier” with her, Mandella said.
Trainer Ned Allard said this week that 4-year-old gelding Quint’s Brew is working back from a “minor issue” and will not race again until the fall. The budding Mid-Atlantic runner shipped to New York in his last two starts and finished second in a pair of graded stakes.
“It’s just going to require some time off,” Allard said. “You’ll see him in the fall and he’ll be just fine.”
A new maiden special weight condition for Maryland-bred juveniles is provoking several trainers to take rare trips to Laurel Park this week.
Ohio-based trainer Tim Hamm will bring filly Jen d’Oro for the fourth race on Friday, while Chad Summers will ship Tartabull from New York for his debut in the fifth race on Saturday. Both races will be run at 5 1/2 furlongs on dirt.
Booth and jockey Erik Asmussen have formed a special bond, and the young guns will be in action Saturday at Churchill Downs in pursuit of their fifth consecutive stakes win together in the Grade 3, $250,000 Kelly’s Landing.
Asmussen will be traveling in from his Lone Star Park base to reunite with his signature mount – and one of his best equine friends. The pair last teamed up on May 17 at Pimlico, where they won the Grade 3 Maryland Sprint.
Jockey Francisco Arrieta, who won the riding title at Oaklawn Park, is scheduled to ride this summer at Colonial Downs, according to his agent, Cody Autrey.
The Colonial meet runs from July 9 through Sept. 13. Before the start of Colonial, Arrieta has mounts Friday and Saturday at Lone Star and stakes engagements July 4-5 at Prairie Meadows.
