WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 2
Julien Leparoux leads the nation in races won, and the apprentice sensation had a big opening week at Saratoga. But although he won five races (unheard of for a bug rider at the Spa) at an average win mutuel of $28.40, he cost the bankroll dearly on two occasions.
Rewrite and J'ray may be the leading 3-year-old New York-bred turf fillies in training. But as offspring of Kentucky-based stallions, neither is eligible for Thursday's $150,000 Statue of Liberty Stakes, restricted to 3-year-old daughters of New York-based stallions.
That makes for a fairly wide-open feature Thursday at Saratoga. This is the fourth running of the Statue of Liberty, the first on turf. Less than half the field owns a win on the grass, and none of the 13 entrants has won at the race's 1 1/8-mile distance.
Gary Mandella will be hoping he has the long and the short of it Thursday at Del Mar. He has top contenders in the day's two richest races - a route and a sprint, both on turf - including the featured seventh, in which Mandella sends out Jazzerin, who has improved significantly since moving to Mandella's barn and to the turf.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Bernardini's spectacular nine-length victory in Saturday's Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes was still the talk of the backstretch here Monday morning, with everybody in complete agreement that they had witnessed a special performance from the leader of the 3-year-old division.
Among those quickest to praise Bernardini's effort were John Ward, Nick Zito, Todd Pletcher, and Jimmy Jerkens, the trainers of the five horses who gave futile chase in the Jim Dandy.
DEL MAR, Calif. - The eventful, curious career of New Joysey Jeff came to a sudden, tragic, and ugly ending Monday morning at Del Mar during a workout on turf, when the 3-year-old stakes-class colt suffered multiple fractures in his left front leg that necessitated his euthanization soon after.
According to an official veterinarian report filed with the California Horse Racing Board by New Joysey Jeff's attending veterinarian, Dr. Ted Simpson, New Joysey Jeff had a "displaced and compound fracture" to his left front cannon bone and had fractures in that leg's sesamoid bones.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Four-horse fields are rarely conducive to come-from-behind horses like Court Folly. A torrid pace, though, played right into hands of the late-running longshot, who ran down 1-10 favorite Songster en route to a shocking 1 1/2-length victory in Monday's $150,000 at Saratoga.
CHICAGO - Arlington Park, under scrutiny the last month because of a series of catastrophic injuries during races, had another eventful weekend with the breakdown of Three Hour Nap in the Washington Park Handicap on Saturday. That followed a statement by the Illinois Racing Board raising questions about a recent independent inspection of the track surface.
SANTA ROSA, Calif. - Richard Shapiro, the chairman of the California Horse Racing Board, made an appearance Sunday at the Sonoma County Fair, answering questions from a group of about 300 fans who were gathered for a handicapping seminar.
Checknbac and Tac it Like a Man finished in a dead heat in the $404,740 Governor's Cup Futurity at Los Alamitos. Both horses are trained by Jaime Gomez and won their first stakes.
Checknbac, ridden by G.R. Carter Jr., and Tac It Like a Man, ridden by J.R. Ramirez, finished 350 yards in a stakes-record 17.32 seconds. Checknbac ($6.20) and Tac it Like a Man ($3) finished three-quarters of a length in front of First to Adore.
Wayzata Bay ($15.80) saved ground to the stretch and rallied to collar the pacesetters in the final strides to score a half-length victory in the $75,000 Prairie Meadows Handicap.
Jockey Carlos Montalvo rated Wayzata Bay in sixth position in the seven-horse field, as No Tolerance ran an opening half-mile in 47.53 seconds. King Freddie made a bid outside of No Tolerance leaving midstretch, with Wayzata Bay bearing down on the outside of that pair and edging King Freddie at the wire. No Tolerance finished another neck back in third.
