SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Led by champion Midnight Bisou, trainer Steve Asmussen had at least a trio of horses he plans to run in Grade 1 races at Saratoga put in workouts Monday over Saratoga’s main track.
Midnight Bisou, looking to repeat in the Grade 1 Personal Ensign on Aug. 1, worked five furlongs in 1:01.22, going in company with Tenfold, the 2018 Jim Dandy and 2019 Pimlico Special winner. Daily Racing Form clocker Mike Welsch caught the team in splits of 24.63 seconds and 36.23 seconds.
ELMONT, N.Y. – All-sources handle at Belmont Park was $386,654,955 for the 25-day meet that concluded Sunday. The average daily handle was $15,466,198, an increase of 41.6 percent from the daily average of $10,917,736 for the 48-day spring/summer meet of 2019.
The Belmont meet, which followed an 80-day shutdown of racing on this circuit, was held without fans or owners being allowed ontrack due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The meet, which was scheduled for 51 days beginning April 24, didn’t start until June 3.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Uncle Chuck has bounced out of his Los Alamitos Derby win in good order and is preparing for his crucial next race, which will determine whether he goes on to the Kentucky Derby on Sept. 5.
He’s 2 for 2, and now will run in either the Shared Belief Stakes on Aug. 1 at Del Mar or, more likely, the Travers Stakes on Aug. 8 at Saratoga as a final prep for the Derby.
Guarana and Rushing Fall, whose Saturday scores as odds-on favorites at Keeneland gave Chad Brown the 100th and 101st Grade 1 victories of his illustrious career, both were flown Monday to Saratoga as Brown considers the best paths to return to Kentucky for their Breeders’ Cup races on Nov. 7.
Guarana won the seven-furlong Madison when re-rallying under Jose Ortiz. Some 90 minutes later, Rushing Fall edged away late under Javier Castellano to win the Jenny Wiley at 1 1/16 miles on turf.
War of Will, believed to be just the third horse in modern history to win a Triple Crown event and a Grade 1 turf race, could run next in the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile on Sept. 19, Casse said Monday.
“We’re not going to run him and Got Stormy against one another,” Casse said. “I want to run Got Stormy in the Fourstardave,” set for Aug. 22 at Saratoga. “But she needs a very firm turf, so we’ll have to watch the weather for that plan to come together.”
Art Collector is back in the quiet environs of the Skylight training center just east of Louisville, Ky., as his hometown connections ponder what will come next for a colt whose emphatic triumph Saturday in the Blue Grass Stakes has made him a major contender for the 146th Kentucky Derby.
Jockey Eduard Rojas Fernandez took off his mounts at the Los Alamitos evening meeting over the weekend after he tested positive for coronavirus.
Fernandez made the announcement on Twitter on Saturday afternoon.
“I will be out for weeks,” he wrote in Spanish. “I took the test and I came out positive.”
He later contacted the stewards to inform them of the positive.
Total handle at the recently concluded five-day Keeneland meet in Lexington, Ky., was $63.3 million, the track announced, for average daily handle of $12.7 million.
The meet was held without spectators, though horse owners were allowed on the grounds. Earlier this year, Keeneland canceled its spring meet due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the track later reached a deal with Ellis Park to transfer that track’s racing dates so that Keeneland could run a five-day meet from July 8-12.
DEL MAR, Calif. – An unpaid $600 horse transport bill has cost Ahmed Zayat ownership privileges in California. Del Mar stewards on Sunday suspended Zayat “for failure to pay his debt owed to Brian Strong (dba B and S Equine Enterprises) in the amount of $600.”
The ruling states: “During the term of the suspension, all licenses and license privileges of Ahmed Zayat are suspended and pursuant to California Horse Racing Board rules … subject is denied access to all premises in this jurisdiction.”
DEL MAR, Calif. – Coronavirus is wreaking havoc on jockeys, and Sunday afternoon the pandemic sidelined the top rider in Southern California.
Flavien Prat learned midday Sunday he tested positive, becoming the fourth jockey to test positive for coronavirus after riding July 4 at Los Alamitos. Victor Espinoza, Martin Garcia, and Luis Saez all tested positive after riding at Los Alamitos.
