SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Knicks Go and By My Standards each put in sharp, long workouts over the weekend out of town as they prepare for a start in the Grade 1, $1 million Whitney Stakes here on Aug. 7.
On Sunday at Ellis Park, Knicks Go worked six furlongs in 1:12.20. Trainer Brad Cox said the work was delayed a day due to the closure of the track for training Saturday following Friday’s incident when a stricken tractor driver damaged the inside rail on the dirt course.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Saffie Joseph Jr. went 3 for 4 at Aqueduct with two stakes wins, including the Grade 1 Carter Handicap. Joseph went 8 for 28 at the Belmont Park spring/summer, highlighted by Drain the Clock’s victory in the Grade 1 Woody Stephens.
What type of meet will Joseph have at Saratoga? Ask him Sunday.
“This week’s our meet,” said Joseph, who has gotten off to a 1-for-7 start through the first nine days at Saratoga.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Jockeys Junior Alvarado, Julien Leparoux, Deshawn Parker, Gerard Melancon, and Scott Stevens are the finalists for the Mike Venezia Memorial Award, the New York Racing Association announced Sunday.
Named after the rider who died as a result of injuries suffered in a spill in 1988, the Venezia Award is given to a jockey who displays extraordinary sportsmanship and citizenship.
Racing resumes Wednesday at Canterbury Park after a nine-day break during which the Minnesota track hosted the Twin Cities Summer Jam, the track announced.
There are 29 days remaining of the 65-date season. Officials said handle has been up nearly 13 percent through the first portion of the meet. Field size through the first 36 dates of the meet has averaged 7.2 horses a race and daily purses have averaged $235,237.
The Indiana breeding program received a boost July 15 when the Indiana Racing Commission approved a proposal by the Indiana Thoroughbred Breed Development to return purses for statebred and state-sired stakes to a minimum of $100,000.
Lone Star Park has asked the Texas Racing Commission for approval to start its Thoroughbred meet a week later in 2022. The track is seeking to race 48 dates, the same as in 2021.
Lone Star would like to open April 28 and race through July 24, said Matt Vance, executive vice president of both Lone Star and its sister track Remington Park.
Vance said Lone Star also is looking to race Thursday through Sunday most weeks, with night racing on Thursday and Friday and afternoon cards on Saturday and Sunday.
Tengo Mis Papeles established himself as the dominant 2-year-old during the Lone Star Park meet and now he’s taking his show to Prairie Meadows. Trainer Bret Calhoun said Monday that the unbeaten colt is being pointed for the $100,000 Prairie Gold Juvenile on Aug. 14.
Tengo Mis Papeles won his career debut in the $75,000 Staunch Avenger division of the Texas Stallion Stakes on June 13 at Lone Star. In his only other start, the Texas-bred captured a division of the track’s $100,000 Texas Thoroughbred Futurity on July 10.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Trainer Mike Maker wasted no time having an impact on the Del Mar summer meeting.
Maker has a stable based in California for the first time at Del Mar and won with two of five runners on July 17-18.
“I hope we can keep it up,” Maker said last week.
DEL MAR, Calif. – In the post parade for Sunday’s second race at Del Mar, the 2-year-old colt Murray was sending mixed signals to jockey Flavien Prat in advance of his first start.
“I didn’t know what to expect because he was so relaxed,” Prat said. “It can go both ways. They can be focused or they can be lost.”
Murray, it turned out, had his act together. Murray stalked pacesetter Drink the Wind to the turn before pulling clear for a win by 10 3/4 lengths. Murray ran 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:04.37. He earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 78.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Gamine, the champion female sprinter of 2020, will start in the Grade 1 Ballerina Stakes for fillies and mares at Saratoga on Aug. 28, trainer Bob Baffert said on Sunday.
The $500,000 Ballerina Stakes is run at seven furlongs and will be the fourth start of the year for Gamine, who has won her last four races beginning with the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Keeneland last year.
