SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Thorpedo Anna, the reigning Horse of the Year who won a thrilling renewal of the Grade 1 Personal Ensign by a nose on Aug. 23, will most likely make her next start in the Grade 1 Spinster on Oct. 5 at Keeneland, trainer Kenny McPeek said Sunday.
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DRF Past Performances
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Jockey Edgard Zayas was originally scheduled to spend this past weekend at Kentucky Downs. But a chain of events that began with John Velazquez taking himself off Be Your Best in the Flower Bowl here Saturday to ride Fierceness in the Pacific Classic instead led Zayas to Saratoga, where he won four races over a two-day span.
He also ended up with the mount on White Abarrio in the tumultuous Jockey Club Gold Cup, a race in which Irad Ortiz Jr. was unseated from Mindframe after a chain reaction of bumping after the start of the race.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Though he won two Grade 1 stakes with his older dirt males over the weekend, trainer Todd Pletcher’s biggest victory may be the fact Mindframe was unharmed during a scary incident in the opening stages of Sunday’s $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup at Saratoga.
Mindframe ran loose for about a mile of the Jockey Gold Cup after he lost rider Irad Ortiz Jr. as a result of a chain of reaction of crowding and bumping that ultimately forced Ortiz to hit the ground. Fortunately, Ortiz escaped serious injury.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Irad Ortiz Jr. escaped serious injury from an incident shortly after the start of Sunday’s Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup at Saratoga, but he took off his mounts on Monday, the final day of the Saratoga meet due to soreness in his left wrist and right ribs.
“A little beat up, but not bad at all,” said Ortiz, who was named to ride all 11 races on the closing-day card. “I would love to be out there competing but it is what it is. The doctors cleared me to ride but they also said it would not be a bad idea to have a few days’ rest.”
DEL MAR, Calif. – Saturday’s Pacific Classic day program at Del Mar showed an increase in attendance and handle compared to 2024, according to figures released by the track.
Del Mar drew an ontrack crowd of 13,342 compared to 12,494 in 2024. The attendance was the highest of the decade, but well below 20,686 in 2019, the last running of the Pacific Classic before the pandemic.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Gimme a Nother, a two-time Group 1 winner in South Africa in 2024, will attempt to win for the first time in North America in this Saturday’s Grade 2 John C. Mabee Stakes at Del Mar.
Considering Gimme a Nother’s game performance in the Grade 2 Canadian Stakes at Woodbine on July 20, a second-place finish by a head as the even-money favorite, trainer Graham Motion said over the weekend that he believes she can achieve a breakthrough win.
“I thought she was a little unlucky and ran a good race,” he said.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Formidable Man, winner of Saturday’s Grade 2 Del Mar Mile, and two other turf stakes this year, is unlikely to race again until the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Del Mar on Nov. 1.
“We’ll take it day by day,” trainer Michael McCarthy said on Sunday. “Maybe we won’t run until the Breeders’ Cup Mile. We’ll keep our options open. I think he’ll be very effective off a nine-week gap.”
If Formidable Man starts in the BC Mile, he will risk an unbeaten six-race record on the Del Mar turf since he won his debut in a maiden race here in September 2023.
Nysos, the program favorite in Grade 1 Pacific Classic on Saturday at Del Mar, has been scratched with a foot issue, trainer Bob Baffert said late Saturday morning.
The defection of Nysos postpones a widely anticipated showdown. The 1 1/4-mile Pacific Classic would have been the first meeting between Nysos and Grade 1 winners Journalism and Fierceness.
It was not immediately clear how the setback will influence the autumn campaign of Nysos.
David Wilson had done his homework.
When Mr. A. P. was entered in a $150,000 claiming race for 2-year-old maidens at Del Mar on July 31, Wilson, a longtime owner and client of trainer Vladimir Cerin, had scouted the first-time starter.
“I like a horse in there,” Wilson told Cerin.
A claim was submitted. Mr. A. P. finished second by 5 1/4 lengths.
On Sunday, Mr. A. P. has his second start, this time in a tough maiden special weight race at six furlongs at Del Mar.
“We think we have a useful horse,” Cerin said.
Baeza, who has finished second or third behind top 3-year-old Sovereignty in his last three starts, continued his progress toward a scheduled start in the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby at Parx Racing on Sept. 20 with a five-furlong workout in 59.40 seconds at Del Mar on Friday.
Baeza worked alone and had one of the quicker times of the morning at that distance.
“Usually he doesn’t work that well by himself,” trainer John Shirreffs said. “He looked good today.”