Hugh Robertson celebrated the biggest win of a 50-year training career in high style.
A couple hours after Two Emmys had held off odds-on favorite Domestic Spending to win the Grade 1, $600,000 Mister D. Stakes by a neck, Robertson was back home. “I had a bowl of applesauce,” he said. “And a chocolate milk.”
DEL MAR, Calif. - Fast workouts have become commonplace of late for Express Train in advance of what may be his richest win in Saturday’s Grade 1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar.
The Pacific Classic will be Express Train’s second appearance in a $1 million race, preceded by a third to Silver State in the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap at Oaklawn Park in April.
Letruska, the leading older female in the country, is expected to ship to Saratoga on Tuesday and will have her final work on Thursday for the Grade 1 Personal Ensign Stakes here Aug. 28, trainer Fausto Gutierrez said Sunday.
Letruska had been based at Keeneland since her victory in the Grade 2 Fleur de Lis at Churchill Downs, but last week, due to some stabling issues, Gutierrez moved his stable from Keeneland to Monmouth Park. Letruska and Vegas Weekend - who is entered in a $50,000 claiming race on Thursday at Saratoga - are expected to van from Monmouth on Tuesday.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - It has been four weeks since Midnight Bourbon clipped heels with Hot Rod Charlie, stumbled and unseated his rider, Paco Lopez, in the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park in a scary-looking incident.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer Mark Casse does not see the ideal race for Got Stormy to prepare for the Breeders’ Cup Mile on Nov. 6 at Del Mar.
He doesn’t believe Got Stormy can get a mile at Woodbine, so the Woodbine Mile is out. There is no turf at Churchill Downs this fall. The Keeneland turf course in the fall is usually softer than Got Stormy prefers, so the First Lady may not be an option.
So, Casse will likely cut Got Stormy back in distance to 6 1/2 furlongs and point to the $600,000 Ladies Sprint at Kentucky Downs on Sept. 11.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - When High Oak drew off to a very convincing 4 1/4-length victory in Saturday’s Grade 2 Saratoga Special, the performance capped a very special half-hour for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, coming as it did on the heels of perhaps an even more impressive effort by his highly regarded 3-year-old prospect Speaker’s Corner in the previous race.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Essential Quality and Keepmeinmind, separated by a half-length when finishing 1-2 in the Jim Dandy Stakes, returned to the work tab Saturday morning at Saratoga. To hear their respective trainers tell it, the hard race both had three weeks ago only served to propel their 3-year-olds forward as they prepare for their rematch in the Grade 1, $1.25 million Runhappy Travers on Aug. 28.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Multiple stakes winner Gufo stepped up his preparations for a start in the Grade 1 Sword Dancer Stakes when he worked five furlongs in 1:02.19 Friday over the Oklahoma turf course.
With Joel Rosario up, Gufo started two lengths behind Sitting Pretty, tracked that one through an opening quarter in 26.94 seconds, tipped outside in upper stretch, and finished to the wire on even terms and went a furlong past the wire where the work was timed. It was his third work since July 31.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The stewards handed jockey Junior Alvarado a three-day careless riding suspension for his ride aboard runner-up Annex in the Grade 2 National Museum and Hall of Fame Stakes.
Annex in midstretch came in on Original, who under Luis Saez took up and was pulled up and did not finish the race. The stewards looked at the incident, but decided not to take action in part because it didn’t affect the parimutuel outcome of the race.
Alvarado, who did not appeal, will serve the days Wednesday through Friday.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Rocketry, a multiple track-record holder at marathon distances and earner of $811,577, has been retired, his owner, Centennial Farms Inc., announced Thursday in a press release.
Rocketry, a 7-year-old son of Hard Spun, finished a well-beaten fourth in the Birdstone Stakes on Aug. 5, his third double-digit-length defeat this year.
