SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Having done virtually all he can in the 3-year-old division, Essential Quality will now be aimed at the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic, in which he will take on older horses for the first time and make his bid for Horse of the Year.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – After a 36-year riding career, Chris DeCarlo has retired from the saddle and taken a full-time position with the New York Racing Association.
DeCarlo will work in the racing office in the morning and will be a placing judge in the afternoon.
DeCarlo, 52, received his stewards’ accreditation last year. He needed to work 30 days at a track before he could begin seeking employment as a steward. He began working in the NYRA racing office at Aqueduct in February and planned to go back to riding in the spring.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Jockeys Eric Cancel and Jose Lezcano were each slapped with three-day careless riding suspensions as the result of rides on Wednesday’s card.
Cancel was given his penalty for his ride on Saratoga Chrome in race 6, which resulted in the horse being disqualified from first and placed third.
Lezcano was sanctioned for his ride on Alba’s Star in Wednesday’s 10th race, which resulted in that mare being disqualified from second to fifth.
Cancel took his days Saturday, Sunday, and Wednesday.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – War Like Goddess, dominant winner of the Grade 2 Glens Falls here on Aug. 7, worked five furlongs in 1:02.09 Friday morning over the Oklahoma turf course in preparation for next Saturday’s Grade 1, $600,000 Flower Bowl Stakes at Saratoga.
Able to work inside the orange traffic cones, referred to as dogs, during a time for stakes horses to breeze, War Like Goddess went in splits of 13.30 seconds, 25.66, 38.19, and got her last quarter in 23.90 seconds. She galloped out in 1:14.84 and seven furlongs in 1:28.12.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Knicks Go, winner of the Grade 1 Whitney here Aug. 7, returned to the work tab Friday morning, breezing a half-mile in 49.15 seconds over the Oklahoma training track.
Daily Racing Form clocker Donald Harris caught Knicks Go in splits of 12 and 36.20, and had him galloping out in 1:01.71.
“As good a move as I’ve ever seen from him,” trainer Brad Cox said. “He’s really doing well. He’s really bounced out of the Whitney in great shape.”
Hear My Prayer won her California debut in an allowance race for fillies and mares at Del Mar on Thursday, her first start in more than six months. It may be more than two months before Hear My Prayer races again.
Friday, trainer Vladimir Cerin said Hear My Prayer may run next in the Grade 3 Sen. Ken Maddy Stakes, a $200,000 race for fillies and mares at five furlongs at Del Mar on Nov. 5.
“There’s no place else to run,” he said. “We know she likes the track.”
Rain changed the training schedule of Jimmy Blue Jeans, but it did not affect the plan to start the California-bred gelding in the Grade 2 Del Mar Derby on Sept. 4.
Trainer Andy Mathis intended to give Jimmy Blue Jeans a turf workout last Sunday, but persistent light rain led to the cancellation of turf works. Thursday, Jimmy Blue Jeans worked five furlongs on turf in 1:00 for the $300,000 Del Mar Derby at 1 1/8 miles on turf. The Del Mar Derby will be the first start in a graded stakes for Jimmy Blue Jeans.
Jockey Jose Valdivia Jr. was suspended for 10 days and apprentice Diego Herrera for five as a result of an accident in last Sunday’s seventh race at Del Mar that eliminated seven of the 12 runners and caused the race to be declared a no-contest.
The rulings were issued Thursday by Del Mar’s stewards. On Friday morning, Valdivia’s agent, Nick Hines, said his rider would appeal the ruling. The agent for Herrera, Vince DeGregory, said they would not appeal. Herrera will miss the final five days of the meet, which closes Labor Day, Sept. 6.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – DeShawn Parker has been named the winner of the Mike Venezia Memorial Award, the New York Racing Association announced Thursday.
Parker received the majority of votes from more than 350 ballots cast by professional jockeys at North American tracks, NYRA said in a press release. Other nominated riders were Junior Alvarado, Julien Leparoux, Scott Stevens, and Gerard Melancon.
Parker, currently based at Indiana Grand, will be recognized in a special ceremony to be held at Saratoga on Sept. 2.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Channel Maker used a victory in the Grade 1 Sword Dancer last year as part of a late run that netted him the male turf championship.
Saturday, he will try to rebound from a seventh-place finish in the Bowling Green Stakes when he makes his fourth consecutive start in the Grade 1, $750,000 Sword Dancer. The winner of this race gets a fees-paid berth into the Breeders’ Cup Turf.
Channel Maker will take on a field that includes Tribhuvan, who won the Grade 1 United Nations, Gufo, Rockemperor, Cross Border, Moretti, and Japan.
