SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Both Irad Ortiz Jr. and his brother Jose Ortiz will not be heading to Churchill Downs for Kentucky Derby week, according to their agents, electing to stay at Saratoga through the conclusion of the meet on Sept. 7.
Jose Ortiz did not have a Kentucky Derby mount, while Irad Ortiz Jr. has ridden Derby probable Dr Post in two of his three most recent starts.
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Dr Post worked five furlongs in 1:01.34 on Friday morning over Saratoga’s main track, after which trainer Todd Pletcher stopped just short of committing him to the Kentucky Derby on Sept. 5 at Churchill Downs.
“I thought he worked great – steady breeze, strong gallop-out – the kind of work we’ve come to expect from him,” Pletcher said. “Right now, he’s training like a horse you’d have to strongly consider for the Derby.”
With a seven-figure price tag as a yearling, North Pole will understandably draw attention for his debut in a maiden special weight race for 2-year-olds at 5 1/2 furlongs on Sunday at Del Mar.
This may be a case where the experience will be more valuable and provide a foundation for a late summer or autumn campaign.
Jolie Olimpica, a two-time stakes winner at Santa Anita earlier this year, is under consideration for the Grade 2 Del Mar Mile against males on Aug. 23, trainer Richard Mandella said on Friday.
Jolie Olimpica was the morning-line favorite for the Grade 2 Yellow Ribbon Stakes for fillies and mares on Aug. 8, but missed the race after she sustained a cut on a foot, Mandella said. Friday, Jolie Olimpica worked five furlongs in 1:01 on the main track, leaving the $150,000 Del Mar Mile, on turf, as an option.
The Grade 1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Aug. 22 will have a small field with a touch of international intrigue.
As of Friday, track officials expected five or six runners in the $500,000 race at 1 1/4 miles, the richest of the meet. The list of candidates is led by Maximum Security, the champion 3-year-old male of 2019 who won the Grade 2 San Diego Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on July 25, finishing a nose in front of Midcourt, another Pacific Classic candidate.
Kyle Frey won five straight races Thursday as Golden Gate Fields opened its summer meeting.
After running third on Quetta's in Charge in the first race, Frey won the next five races, including three for trainer Isidro Tamayo, before finishing fourth aboard favored Sunblessed in the final race.
Frey, who led all riders in the two-week Wine Country Racing meet with 10 winners from 38 mounts, won the second race aboard favored Barbaroni ($5) for trainer Jonathan Wong.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Wesley Ward is still not sure where Golden Pal will make his next start. Golden Pal, a maiden, finished second in the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot in June.
Ward is hoping to run Golden Pal in the $85,000 Skidmore Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 21. But the Skidmore is in jeopardy of not filling because 13 of the 18 nominees are trained by Ward and several of the other nominees have run recently. Entries for the Skidmore are to be taken Sunday.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Guarana, a three-time Grade 1-winning filly, won’t race again this year, trainer Chad Brown said Thursday.
“She had a setback, she’s going to need a 30-day break,” Brown said. “Unfortunately, the timing of it is terrible. No decision has been made on whether she will run again next year.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The field for the $500,000 Saratoga Oaks Invitational on Sunday will have a familiar look to it, with the first four finishers from the Grade 2 Lake Placid here on July 19 to meet again.
One of those is Queens Embrace, who rallied from last to finish third, 1 1/2 lengths behind race winner Speaktomeofsummer, in the 1 1/8-mile Lake Placid. Queens Embrace earned an 83 Beyer Speed Figure, matching her career best, posted just 16 days earlier for an entry-level allowance win against older horses at Monmouth Park.
The 9-year-old stakes winner Tribalist has been retired from racing after finishing last in an optional claimer for turf sprinters last Sunday at Del Mar.
Tribalist won the Green Flash Handicap at five furlongs on turf at Del Mar in 2017, but lost his final 10 starts. He was second by a neck in the Grade 2 Eddie D Stakes on the hillside turf course at Santa Anita in 2017.
“He’s had a bunch of little nagging injuries,” trainer Blake Heap said Wednesday. “We’re going to retire him. He acts like he’s still got it, but he’s probably lost a step.”
