ELMONT, N.Y. – Country Grammer, the Grade 1 Hollywood Gold Cup winner recently transferred to Todd Pletcher from Bob Baffert, will skip Saturday’s Grade 2 Suburban and instead point to the Grade 1 Whitney on Aug. 7 at Saratoga.
Elliott Walden, president and CEO of racing operations for WinStar Farm, part-owner of Country Grammer, said the horse came out of his most recent workout “with a little snot.”
Walden said Pletcher didn’t want to run in the Suburban “off not knowing the horse fully.”
ELMONT, N.Y. – After a lengthy freshening following his victory in the $12 million Dubai World Cup three months ago, Mystic Guide is set to embark on the second half of his 4-year-old season in Saturday’s Grade 2, $400,000 Suburban Stakes at Belmont Park.
Jockey Everardo Rodriguez won five consecutive races Monday at Delta Downs, and four of those horses qualified for the $196,995 Firecracker Derby for Quarter Horses. His winners included fastest qualifier Dirtwater Dash. The finale is July 19. Dirtwater Dash was winning his fifth straight race Monday.
Rodriguez on Tuesday qualified Mr Spud for the $296,745 Firecracker Futurity for Quarter Horses. The finale is July 20 at Delta. Rodriguez is the current leading rider at the meet and won the local title in 2019.
Travis Foley’s first trip to Lone Star Park since the track hosted the Breeders’ Cup in 2004 was a successful one last Sunday, as the assistant to his father, trainer Greg Foley, saddled Yes It’s Ginger to a win in the $75,000 Chicken Fried Stakes.
It was the first stakes victory for the consistent mare, and the first time Travis Foley had been at Lone Star in 17 years, as he originally came to town to help his father with millionaire Champali in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.
Elm Drive will start in the Grade 2 Sorrento Stakes for 2-year-old fillies on Aug. 6 at Del Mar after an eye-catching win by eight lengths in her debut in a maiden special weight race last Saturday at Los Alamitos.
Ridden by Juan Hernandez for trainer Phil D’Amato, Elm Drive led throughout as the 4-5 favorite, finishing five furlongs in 57.67 seconds. Elm Drive had been based at Los Alamitos with D’Amato’s assistants Linda Thrash and Mary Donald.
The Argentine Group 1 winner Scotish Star is ready for her American debut, as long as trainer Richard Mandella can find a suitable race.
Mandella said Wednesday that he may enter the unbeaten Scotish Star in Monday’s Grade 2 Great Lady M. Stakes for fillies and mares at 6 1/2 furlongs at Los Alamitos. Alternatively, Mandella said he could wait for a race at the Del Mar summer meeting, which begins July 16.
“I’m thinking a little bit about that stakes at Los Al,” he said. “It’s a pretty deep bunch.”
Add another major 3-year-old dirt-route horse to what’s shaping up as a fantastic Haskell Invitational.
Trainer Steve Asmussen said Tuesday that Midnight Bourbon will make his next start July 17 at Monmouth in the Haskell. The other horses under serious consideration for the 1 1/8-mile fixture are Mandaloun, Hot Rod Charlie, Rombauer, Following Sea, Antigravity, and Pickin’ Time.
A pair of California invaders, Grade 1 winner Ce Ce and the versatile Laura’s Light top a field of eight older fillies and mares entered Wednesday for Saturday’s $350,000 Princess Rooney Invitational at Gulfstream Park. The Grade 2 Princess Rooney, a Win and You're In for the Breeders' Cup Fillyand Mare Sprint, highlights the Summit of Speed program that also includes the Grade 3, $200,000 Smile Sprint.
Keeneland Race Course on Wednesday released the stakes schedule for its 17-day fall meet in October with a projection of record purses amid a number of tweaks from the status quo.
The opening FallStars Weekend (Oct. 8-10), a huge weekend of preps toward the Breeders’ Cup, is essentially the same, except for Shadwell Farm dropping its sponsorship of the Grade 1 Keeneland Turf Mile. The $750,000 purse remains the same as during the 2020 pandemic year, whereas all other FallStars races have been restored to 2019 levels. The Shadwell Turf Mile had been worth $1 million from 2014-19.
Fulsome and O Besos both had their final pre-race works toward the Indiana Derby in separate early morning breezes this week at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.
Fulsome went five furlongs in 1:00.80 on Wednesday, some 24 hours after O Besos went in 1:00.40 on Tuesday. They figure as the favorites when rematched next Wednesday in the 27th running of the Grade 3, $300,000 Indiana Derby at Indiana Grand in suburban Indianapolis.
