SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Sierra Leone and Fierceness, the one-two finishers from last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic, both put in workouts Saturday morning at Saratoga, but it is increasingly likely they will not be facing each other here in the Grade 1, $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup on Aug. 31.
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DRF Past Performances
Grand Slam Smile won the sixth stakes of her career, but first under the direction of trainer Sean McCarthy, in the $151,500 Solana Beach Stakes at Del Mar last Sunday.
The win in the one-mile turf race for statebred fillies and mares, achieved in a front-running manner, has left McCarthy eager to start Grand Slam Smile at the Santa Anita autumn meeting, which runs from Sept. 26 to Oct. 26.
Two Rivers Over, a former maiden claimer who won the Group 2 Godolphin Mile in March 2024, is nearing a comeback after a lengthy layoff.
A 5-year-old gelding, Two Rivers Over worked five furlongs from the gate in 1:00.80 at Del Mar on Thursday, his sixth workout since late June.
“We’re eager to get him back to his peak form,” trainer Doug O’Neill said on Friday. “I don’t know if he’s there yet, but he’s 90 percent plus.”
On opposite sides of the nation, two workouts scheduled for Saturday will help determine the depth of the field in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Aug. 30.
At Saratoga, Fierceness, winner of the Grade 1 Travers Stakes at Saratoga in August 2024, and second in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar last November, will have a workout in preparation for the $1 million Pacific Classic or the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup at Saratoga on Aug. 31.
“We are strongly considering the Pacific Classic if all goes well,” trainer Todd Pletcher said on Friday morning.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Miguel Clement has nominated a half-dozen fillies and mares to the Grade 2 Flower Bowl here next Saturday, a Win and You’re In for the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf on Nov. 1 at Del Mar. As of Friday, he planned to run four of the six, although which four may not be determined until entries are drawn for the race on Sunday.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Tappan Street, who beat Sovereignty in the Grade 1 Florida Derby before an injury knocked him off the Triple Crown trail, is progressing toward a return to the races by the end of the year, according to Elliott Walden, president and CEO of WinStar Farm which co-owns the colt.
Tappan Street has been galloping at WinStar Farm for two weeks, and he could have his first breeze by the end of August or in early September. Walden said Tappan Street would have a few breezes at WinStar before shipping to trainer Brad Cox at Churchill Downs, likely in October.
Plans for Ritzaphena, who remained unbeaten in two starts with her recent win in the $100,000 Prairie Meadows Debutante, are to be determined, according to her trainer, Jayde Gelner.
Ritzaphena won her debut going two turns on turf and cut back to one turn and moved to dirt for the six-furlong Debutante.
“I thought she ran well,” Gelner said. “She’d been training really well up into the race. I didn’t think the surface would bother her, and I liked the cutback in distance.”
Gelner said he will be looking over all options for Ritzaphena.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – There may not have been a more impressive debut-winning 2-year-old filly at the 2024 Saratoga meet than Senza Parole.
Never touched with the whip and kept several paths wide in the stretch, Senza Parole won her debut by 7 1/2 lengths. She ran six furlongs in 1:09.84 and earned a 94 Beyer Speed Figure. Stunner, the horse who finished second in that race, came back to win her next two starts, including the Tempted Stakes.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Obliteration, winner of the Grade 3 Sanford Stakes and runner-up in the Grade 2 Saratoga Special, both on dirt, will attempt the turf in the $1 million Kentucky Downs Juvenile Turf Sprint on Aug. 31, trainer Steve Asmussen said.
Obliteration has worked twice on the turf, including on Friday, when he went a half-mile in 48.71 seconds over the Oklahoma turf course, according to Daily Racing Form’s Mike Welsch.
The undefeated 2-year-old Smarty Hardy is making some special memories on the track for trainer Todd Jordan and his daughter, jockey Kylee Jordan.
The son of Stroll won his second straight stakes race of the Prairie Meadows meet last weekend in the $100,000 Freshman. Prior to the start, Smarty Hardy romped by 10 lengths in a division of the Iowa Stallion Futurity.
“It was my first stakes win ever,” said Todd Jordan. “And the last win with Smarty, that was my 100th win.”